Annual Report 2024 (EN)

''Looking back over the past year, we have gone from an idea to a concrete reality in 2024. Since our inception, we have focused on three key areas: green molecules, climate adaptation, and public participation. By 2024, these themes have evolved from ideas into fully-fledged aggregation centers: the Hydrogen Valley Campus Europe, the Public Participation Centre, and the Climate Adaptation Platform (CAP). Moreover, in 2024, in collaboration with the Jantina Tammes School of Digital Society, Technology, and AI, a fourth focus area emerged: the Twin Transition, which refers to the interaction between the digital and energy transitions.

Our annual report reflects on 2024 through a timeline of key events and four pillars: community, education, research, and impact. The Wubbo Ockels School is committed to building a strong community by embedding the university within existing energy and climate ecosystems. Our three centres—focused on hydrogen, public participation, and climate adaptation—are widely recognized and highly sought after by our partners in the North.

Education has been strengthened through summer and winter schools, as well as postgraduate programs, which are crucial for the energy transition. A good example is the case study on public participation in Ameland. Our activities bridge the local and international playing fields, which is clearly reflected in our collaboration with the Global Centre on Adaptation and Stellenbosch University. Last year, we presented the Hydrogen Valley Campus Europe as a blueprint for developing HyCASA, an initiative for hydrogen energy in South Africa. 

In the field of research, our School is committed to supporting colleagues in realizing their ambitious projects. One of the highlights has been the awarding of the Groenvermogen project, led by Linda Steg. This project examines hydrogen from multiple perspectives—engineering, business, law, behavioral sciences, and industry—using an interdisciplinary approach. The award demonstrates that Groningen is at the forefront of collaboration between different disciplines.  

In 2024, we laid the foundation for creating impact and enabling the energy and climate transitions in the coming years.

Over the past year, it also became clear that the central government has changed its view on science, higher education and internationalisation. From 2025 onwards, this will be tangible for all Schools. Nevertheless, we keep our optimism and focus our attention on bright developments. We align ourselves with the credos of our namesake Wubbo Ockels: 

We are all astronauts on Spaceship Earth; optimism about sustainability is a responsibility; sustainability is not less, but different and much more fun''

This timeline takes you through the past year of the Wubbo Ockels School. Scroll down to discover what we achieved in 2024. Want to go straight to one of our School’s core themes? Simply click on the keywords below.

•  Community 
•  Education 
•  Research 
•  Impact  

This is a public version of our annual report. The full version of the annual report can be found  here .

Energy, Tech & Tunes focused on music and technology, hydrogen, and sustainable events. It showcased the scope of the House of Connections, the UG's central meeting place at the Grote Markt, which also houses the Schools for Science & Society. Connecting with Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS), a well-known festival in Groningen, is highly valuable for the university in gaining additional visibility. The Energy, Tech & Tunes programme is a unique collaboration between the University of Groningen, ESNS, and the Municipality of Groningen.

The first edition of Exploring Methods: Energy & Everyday Life Ecologies took place at the House of Connections on 24 January 2024. With a keynote by Alice Dal Gobbo ((University of Trento) and interactive sessions, participants explored a variety of methods to study energy and sustainability. The event highlighted the potential of interdisciplinary research. With panel discussions and workshops, scientists and members of the audience engaged in discussions on innovative approaches.

Aravind Purushothaman Vellayani, professor of Energy Conversion at the University of Groningen, was appointed director of ‘hydrogen economy’ at the Wubbo Ockels School. As director, he plans to focus on interfaculty and interdisciplinary cooperation. Purushothaman Vellayani is an expert on hydrogen, fuel cell systems and thermodynamics of energy conversion. He already cooperated closely with the Wubbo Ockels School, for instance as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board.

Our  community  is what makes the Wubbo Ockels School. As a School, we are the networking organisation for Energy and Climate at the University of Groningen. We drive interdisciplinary and impactful science. In addition, we actively seek collaboration with society, to contribute to the major societal challenges.

Our School focuses on three core tasks: promoting interdisciplinary research and education, jointly designing and developing research questions with various faculties, and collaborating with society, including governments, companies, other knowledge institutions as well as the public. We do this locally, nationally, and internationally.

The Wubbo Ockels School acts as a hub of knowledge, supporting decision-making in politics, business, and other sectors. All our activities add value for students and researchers: we foster new research collaborations, enhance the visibility and social engagement of researchers, and create new opportunities for research funding.

Within our community, four themes are central, which you can learn more about in the  research section :

• Hydrogen

• Climate adaptation

• Public participation

• Twin Transition

Stellenbosch University visited the University of Groningen to strengthen existing cooperation. An important event took place at the Energy Academy Europe, with the participation of the Wubbo Ockels School. Here, the ‘twin transition’, where digitalisation and sustainability come together, was discussed. During the visit, plans were made to expand joint PhDs and strengthen joint publications. In addition, the importance of international cooperation was stressed, despite political challenges. The delegation also visited the House of Connections, where our School is located. Later that year, our School also visited Stellenbosch.

In 2024, Goda Perlaviciute, affiliated with the Wubbo Ockels School, reached the finals of the Ben Feringa Impact Award. She was nominated in the ‘Researchers’ category for her work on public participation and people's willingness to contribute to the energy transition. As an associate professor at the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, she focuses on public acceptance of sustainable transitions. Her research contributes to a deeper understanding of how people can be actively involved in the energy transition, an increasingly important issue in our society.

PhD/i, the learning community for interfaculty PhD students at the UG, became part of the Schools for Science & Society from May onwards. The initiative arose from the growing need for support for PhD students conducting research across faculty boundaries. In many cases, they have to deal with a wide range of publication cultures and methodologies.

The PhD/i community offers intervision groups, workshops and an annual symposium to support PhD students and their supervisors by sharing experiences. Their relocation to the Schools offers new opportunities to strengthen the visibility and impact of interfaculty and interdisciplinary research. This fits perfectly with the mission of the Wubbo Ockels School, focusing on interdisciplinary collaborations.

In cooperation with the Amelander Energie Coöperatie and New Energy Coalition, the Summer School: Public Participation was organised, which focused on the energy transition and sustainable solutions for Ameland. The participants, coming from different disciplines, worked together on a challenge from the Amelander Energie Coöperatie. Through a combination of lectures and hands-on assignments, participants were challenged to think about the role of public participation in the energy transition.

The 4th edition of the New Energy Forum, a major event for energy and mobility professionals, took place at the Zernike Campus in June. It focused on breaking boundaries with entrepreneurial courage. The Wubbo Ockels School facilitated, among other activities, a keynote by sustainable entrepreneur Suze Gehem. New Energy Forum is an initiative of EnTrance, New Energy Coalition, Hive Mobility, and Hanze.

Our society faces complex challenges, with various stakeholders holding different perspectives and proposing diverse solutions. However, it is essential that we take collective action, which requires cooperation across disciplines. The Wubbo Ockels School's mission is to help students and professionals from different fields learn to collaborate, ultimately enabling society to collectively drive the transitions.

Preparing the professionals and researchers of the future for these transitions requires different forms of education. The Wubbo Ockels School contributes by establishing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary education, as well as challenge-based learning, with a focus on society.

We achieve this by collaborating across faculties and knowledge institutions. As such, we bring educational developers and lecturers together and connect them to the wider networks we have developed as a School.

The Wubbo Ockels School has supported and initiated various activities focused on education driven by societal challenges and Life Long Learning. These include the development of an interdisciplinary minor, summer schools, hackathons, and support for student challenges. Whenever possible, we provide students with opportunities to engage in active, collaborative learning in real-world settings.

In the past year, important educational milestones were achieved:

• 2024 launched the VR Hydrogen Lab, a facility exploring the future of hydrogen technology in the energy transition through virtual reality and simulations.
• Also, the development of the university's minor Climate Change and Inequality, where students will study global climate challenges, kicked off.
• The first edition of the Summer School Public Participation in Sustainable Transitions took place in May 2024, in collaboration with the ️Amelander Energie Coöperatie, where participants learned how citizens can actively contribute to sustainable energy transitions.
• 2024 also marked the first edition of the Summer Course on Hydrogen's Role in Energy Transition: Perspectives and Challenges, an international collaboration between the Faculty of Engineering of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and the University of Groningen, studying the crucial role of hydrogen in the energy transition.

A consortium conducting research on the socio-economic impact of hydrogen including researchers from the University of Groningen received 12 million euros from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) last summer. The ‘Hy-SUCCESS: Social, User aCCeptable, Economically Sustainable Systems for hydrogen’ consortium will study hydrogen interdisciplinarily from the perspective of engineering, business, law, behavioural sciences and industry.

Goda Perlaviciute, Linda Steg (both from the Department of Environmental Psychology within the Faculty of Behavioural & Social Sciences of the UG) and Lorenzo Squintani will conduct the research, together with a number of postdocs and PhDs. Patricia Poppendick, hydrogen project coordinator at the Wubbo Ockels School, is in charge of project management.

During the Summer School Energy Challenges: an interdisciplinary approach, 19 participants immersed themselves in hydrogen economics and socio-technical challenges. In multidisciplinary teams, they worked on a real-life case, attended lectures and visited the RWE power plant in Eemshaven. They also played the We-Energy Game to experience the complexity of the energy transition. This successful edition offered valuable insights and practical applications for sustainable energy development.

How can you integrate climate adaptation into your organization? This was the question posed by the province of Groningen last year. In response, three knowledge sessions were organized, including one in September focused on value perspectives and communication. Lorenzo Squintani and Goda Perlaviciute discussed how policy documents can better address core values—what people find important. Currently, this is often overlooked, which can leave people unmotivated to participate.

After a brief introduction to the different value perspectives (biospheric, altruistic, egocentric and hedonic), participants set to work with a policy paper they brought along, to identify the different values. In the workshop, participants were given practical tips to better align with different values.

The guests were professionals from the region: the province of Groningen, municipalities in Groningen and Northwest Drenthe, and the Waterschappen. The sessions were organised in cooperation with experts from the University of Groningen and Hanzehogeschool Groningen and partners of the Climate Adaptation Platform in the Northern Netherlands.

Scientists and experts shared their latest insights on nuclear energy and the North on 25 September. During the discussions, they emphasised the key role the Northern Netherlands could play in training experts and developing knowledge in this field.

Nuclear power offers opportunities for a wider energy mix, but it comes with challenges, such as nuclear waste and high construction costs. The event underlined the need for investments in knowledge and talent, a mission in which our School aims to lead the way. The event was organised by Nasser Kalantar-Nayestanaki, scientific director at ESRIG (Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen) with support from the Wubbo Ockels School.

An important goal of the Wubbo Ockels School is to strengthen the interdisciplinary research environment. As a School, we operate on the basis of three hubs, in line with our three themes: hydrogen, climate adaptation and public participation. Since 2024, a fourth hub has been added: the Twin Transition, the interplay between digitisation and sustainability. Key projects include the interfaculty M20 PhDs, GroenvermogenNL, Phaethon and HyTros.

• The Hydrogen Valley Campus Europe (HVCE) is central to the theme of hydrogen. Within this major project, several organisations in the Northern Netherlands work together in the field of green molecules. By now, our School also provides support for international hydrogen initiatives, such as HyCASA (Hydrogen Campus South Africa) and Hydrogen Europe Academy (HyAcademy EU).

• When it comes to climate adaptation, the Climate Adaptation Platform (CAP) is leading the way. The Wubbo Ockels School works with partners within the platform to connect and strengthen existing climate adaptation research, education and outreach initiatives in the Northern Netherlands.

• The third ‘hub’ is the Public Participation Centre, a collaboration between the Wubbo Ockels School and New Energy Coalition. This initiative keeps citizens actively involved in the various transitions.

• In 2024, the Wubbo Ockels School, in cooperation with the Jantina Tammes School of Digital Society, Technology and AI, established a fourth theme: the Twin Transition. UG researcher Michele Cucuzzella has been  appointed  coordinator for this theme. By 2025, both Schools aim to put together an ambitious programme to prepare the ecosystem for the ‘twin transition’.

This two-day conference in Groningen on hydrogen and offshore energy, organised by New Energy Coalition, brought together experts from the energy industry, government and academia. Inspiring keynote speakers shared their insights on the latest developments within these sectors. Participants attended several workshops to deepen their knowledge and explore current innovations. In addition, the event provided ample opportunities to expand one's networks and create new business opportunities. The Wubbo Ockels School facilitated the exchange of knowledge and cooperation between science and society during the event.

During Zpannend Zernike, children could learn about the world of science and technology. This year, House of Connections participated in the annual science festival for the first time. VR glasses, staircase races and scientists in the making: these were the ingredients for a successful day.

The travelling exhibition ‘Le Monde sans fin’ was  on display  at House of Connections last year. The exhibition is a spin-off of the comic book of the same name, which deals with climate change and the energy transition. In France, it sold over a million copies. The exhibition, organised by the Institut Français NL, was officially opened in Groningen during a well-attended evening. The Wubbo Ockels School was involved in the organisation. As such, it also explored opportunities for exhibitions at House of Connections.

On 7 November, the Hydrogen Valley Campus Europe Collaboration Platform officially kicked off with the Lab & Facilities Tour, as part of the JTF Train and Learn Hub project. During this two-day event, knowledge institutions, companies and researchers came together to share expertise and stimulate cooperation in the field of hydrogen and green molecules. The platform lays the foundation for a sustainable ecosystem in which education and business find each other in innovative projects. In this way, we prepare students and professionals in the Groningen and Emmen region for the jobs of the future and strengthen the hydrogen sector in the Netherlands.

As a School, we strive to maximize the impact and outreach of the University of Groningen's knowledge. We achieve this in collaboration with the other Schools for Science & Society: the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health, the Jantina Tammes School of Digital Society, Technology and AI, and the Rudolf Agricola School for Sustainable Development.

We have a wide range of activities, partly developed actively and creatively at the Schools. The timeline provided a brief overview of all major events and activities in 2024 for the Wubbo Ockels School. It gives a sound yet incomplete overview of all impact and outreach activities of our School.

In 2024, the Wubbo Ockels School (co-)organised four large-scale events, reaching a total of more than 7,000 participants:

• Wubbo Ockels School Event

• New Energy Forum

• European Researchers' Night/Zpannend Zernike

• Wind Meets Gas

There were 9 large-scale conferences, 18 educational meetings, 8 high-level workshops, 1 internal research meeting, 22 networking events and 8 public engagement activities last year.

The Schools focus on creating and transferring knowledge that emerges from collaboration with societal partners. We disseminate this knowledge in various ways, including interviews and videos with scientists, as well as exhibitions. We also support efforts to influence decision-making at both local and national levels, shift entrepreneurs’ mindsets, and actively engage citizens. Additionally, we organize events such as workshops with key stakeholders, conferences, and networking drinks.

Together with the other Schools, the Wubbo Ockels School is dedicated to creating a better world. In 2025, we will continue our mission to improve society and care for ‘Spaceship Earth.’ In the words of our namesake, Wubbo Ockels:

''Enough is enough, we have gone too far! The industrial revolution has put us in an undesirable situation. We have raced through nature; we are destroying our sources of life. We have to choose a different path; we have to change our lives and the way we do business.''