Marian Joëls named Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion

Joëls mainly focused on the effects of stress on the brain, health and disease. This is one of the great themes of current medicine. Stress not only affects our vulnerability to psychiatric disorders, but also our susceptibility to various diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. She has received several international awards and prizes for her work as a researcher.

Administrative tasks

His scientific reputation is evident from his administrative duties for the NWO, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and his appointment in 2012 as President of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies. It is the largest European organization in the field of neuroscience, with more than 20,000 affiliated researchers. She was also co-initiator and co-chair of the Dutch Science Agenda. This program was developed by the company, under the coordinating direction of KNAW.

position of women

In all of her administrative positions, Marian Joëls has successfully campaigned for the place of women in academia. Not only has she been a role model and an example for other researchers, but she has also always trained, coached and supervised many young researchers. She has also been an initiator and stimulator in setting up networks, mentorship programs and courses for women scientists. All these initiatives and activities have earned him the European Diversity Award in 2021 by the ALBA Network. This authoritative European network aims to promote equality and diversity in brain science.

Not one way

As director of the Dutch UMC Federation (NFU), Joëls contributed to the development of the “Recognition and Value” program. This program aims to improve the quality of science by not unilaterally looking at the number of publications and grants obtained for nominations, but also by looking at excellence in education, clinical care or the application of science to the society. This policy was introduced at UMCG a few years ago. The UMCG is thus nationally and internationally at the forefront of the modernization of the career policy for scientists. One of the positive consequences of this policy has been that the number of female professors at UMCG has increased from 49 to 75 between 2016 and 2021.