Spoorzone

Tot 6 februari, want dan sluit de fietsenstalling definitief en wordt de fietstunnel afgesloten voor doorgaand verkeer. De perrons blijven via de trappen wel bereikbaar. Even verderop richting de TU is de Hamtunnel tot de zomer ook dicht vanwege werkzaamheden voor tram 19. Fietsers kunnen oversteken bij de speciaal aangelegde fietsoversteek bij de kruising met het Vesteplein.

Vacancies
Current TU Delft personnel are not satisfactorily put forward to fill open job vacancies within the university, the labour union states in its Local Consultation (LO) report. Consequently, the union has TU Delft’s Executive Board to provide information about the hiring of new personnel. In a letter to the Executive Board, the union writes that regulations implemented last year have led to a policy for job vacancies that is ineffective and likely not well executed, as not all job vacancies are first submitted to the internal redeployment of personnel coordinator.

Downsizing
Over the course of the next three years, 58 positions will cut at the University Corporate Office. Thirty of these positions will become redundant, while the rest of the job losses will occur through natural labour turnover. Owing to the university-wide revaluation process, each division must cut costs. Marketing and communication for example will use the internet instead of attending fairs to recruit international students.      

Shell prize
BSc student in molecular science & technology, Aletta Kaas, has won the Shell Bachelor Prize 2010 for her research entitled ‘Fuel out of water, light and rust’. She worked on a technology to produce hydrogen through photo electrolysis, using nanothreads of iron oxide as a catalyst. MSc student Remco Addink won the Shell Master Prize 2010 for his sustainable energy technology research project entitled ‘Thermomagnetic Generator- the design and construction of a prototype’.

Immigrants rising
Statistic Netherlands (CBS) latest figures reveal that last year a record number of immigrants relocated to the Netherlands. In 2010, 150,000 people came to live in the country, which are 3,000 more people than in 2009. The majority of these immigrants came from other EU countries. Meanwhile, 118,000 people emigrated from the Netherlands in 2010, or 6,000 more people than left in 2009. The total population of the Netherlands now stands at 16.7 million.

Top research
The faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM) scores very high in a recently published QANU research review. The research group next generation infrastructures even scored 5 out of 5 maximum points. The review committee states it ‘has never seen a research programme as impressive as this programme in terms of quality, productivity and outreach’. The other four TBM research groups also performed well. The committee considers it prudent, however, to focus more attention on PhD students, as their success rate is low. TPM dean, Theo Toonen, agrees and points out that TU Delft is starting a Graduate School to tackle this problem.

Monument
TU Delft’s Sports Centre is facing some problems now that the local authorities have stated their intention of registering the centre’s building as a municipal monument. That status has put on hold the necessary rebuilding works, states Raymond Browne, head of the Sports Centre. The 12 new changing rooms built last year are still only accessible from outside. Moreover, since the fitness room was expanded, passing from one side to the other within the centre is only possible via the Sports Café. And there is too little storage space. TU Delft will now study how these problems can be solved in a manner befitting the future monumental status of the building.