TNO employee stories

"I want to contribute to sustainable mobility through disruptive concepts". The mobility concepts on which he is working cannot be ground-breaking enough for Sri Ganesan. Innovations are coming, like Extended Reality, hyperloop and avatar technology, which will give us limitless freedom of movement.

Joanne Donkers is a medior scientist in the Metabolic Health Research expertise group. During her PhD, she missed the applicability of research, but at TNO, her every need is met.

Groundbreaking innovations cannot be achieved without a stable and safe ICT infrastructure. This is the responsibility of Niek van Brederode (and his forty colleagues). ‘What we deliver here is truly high-end’

Belma has been working at TNO for less than a year and there is already a key network function of TNO’s own 5G test environment named after her: the ‘Belma UPF’. It’s a compliment from her colleagues for her contribution to developing it.

Peter Paul has 30 years experience of developing and managing innovations, for example in high-tech, the processing industry, construction, and the maritime industry. He now makes use of this experience in TNO innovation projects in low and middle-income countries.

‘What we develop is used worldwide’. Annemieke Kips is research manager Networks. She firmly believes in the relevance of her department’s expertise and is proud of a team that can compete with the world’s best.

‘We predict the health risks of foods that are still being developed’ - Marjolein Meijerink is medior scientist Immunology, who is clear about her mission. She wants food allergy sufferers to know what their food contains so they can safely and happily enjoy what they are eating.

'What drives me is wanting to know exactly what the situation really is.' Labour economist Ronald Dekker studies labour market dynamics and social innovation. Where better to do that than at TNO, whose research teams often help companies to put innovations into practice?

Bastiaan Wissingh is Senior Research Scientist at the Networks department, specialized in new and innovative communication technologies for the Automotive domain like IEEE 802.11p, 3GPP C-V2X and ETSI Geonetworking with PKI. He also has affinity with new networking concepts like Information Centric Networking (ICN), Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC) and 5G.

“I like turning science fiction into reality”. Karim El Assal is a Scientist Innovator in TNO’s Networks department. As a software developer, he feels at home in a network department as he’s working on the communication applications that will be implemented in the network in the future.

"We know what society needs, both now and in the future". Senior scientist Kallol Das likes to look ahead. What will the world look like in ten or fifteen years’ time, when intelligent wireless networks are in seamless contact with people and environments?

“The energy transition is more than a technological transition”. As a social scientist – a cultural anthropologist, to be precise – Laurie Hermans is outnumbered at TNO. Even so, she feels right at home here.

“Let's listen to what the earth has to tell us”. Romée Kars and her fellow researchers from the Geological Survey of the Netherlands use geomodelling to map the Dutch subsurface. This is inspiring work, because what is more interesting than the earth, the basis of everything?

"Green asphalt will be there faster if we work together". The passion of chemical engineer Sayeda Nowrozon Nahar is asphalt, sustainable asphalt to be precise. Wouldn't it be great if we could soon drive on roads made of bio-asphalt throughout the Netherlands?

"Our Operations is becoming a showcase for our research". TNO wants to take a big step towards even more sustainable research facilities. That is also the mission of Mathieu Baas, program manager Energy & Sustainability in the Corporate Real Estate & Facilities department. "We already have a lot of inhouse expertise for this."

"From sea mines to semiconductors, only TNO can do that!" Jacqueline van Veldhoven is a researcher in the nano-instrumentation department at TNO. She originally came to TNO to work on combating sea mines, but now has work that is closer to her PhD research: to find out how lithographic machines in the semiconductor industry can continue to produce cleanly.

“At TNO, you can truly immerse yourself in technology”. Benjamin Brenny is an optical designer in the Optics department. At TNO, he feels he can really focus on the essence of his profession. In the future, he would like to make a broader contribution, particularly by bringing together different areas of expertise. This is, he notes with satisfaction, possible at TNO.

“Done with learning after university? Certainly not at TNO!” Nora Fahrenfort is a system engineer at the Quantum Technology department of TNO. She helps make quantum technology usable for daily applications of the future. At TNO, she is contributing to improve society – which is precisely why she feels at home here.

“That feeling of “Eureka! We’ve got it!” is what it’s all about”. Senior scientist in the optics department Anna Tchebotareva conducts top-notch research for programmes including QuTech. A joint research and development programme in the field of quantum computers, quantum communication and quantum technology, QuTech involves researchers from TU Delft, TNO and industry partners. While the practical application of quantum technology is still some way off, the focus is firmly on products for the future.

“I want to put quantum technology into space”. Bob Dirks always wanted to become an astronaut. As a systems architect in quantum-, optical and space technology at TNO, he has come surprisingly close to achieving his childhood dream.

'The things we are researching today will be standard in about ten to fifteen years’ time.' Giampiero Gerini is Senior Scientist in the Optics department. As far as he is concerned, research is always a combination of ground-breaking innovation and application driven research.