The Molecular Photonics group of Prof. Wybren Jan Buma and Prof. Fred Brouwer received the very prestigious Descartes Prize, the most important Prize awarded by the European Union for Transnational Collaborative Research.
Dr. G. Rothenberg could be appointed to professor in Heterogeneous Catalysis & Sustainable Chemistry. With this new chair UvA will be the only university in the Netherlands with internationally renowned active chairs in all areas of catalysis.
Prof. Daan Frenkel, appointed in 2008 as Faculty of Science professor at the UvA, was elected Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Last but not the least, Prof. Peter Bolhuis received a NWO-VICI grant and the master programme Chemistry was awarded the Euromaster label in 2008 by the European Chemistry Thematic Network (ECTN) organization.
In fund-raising 2008 again turned out to be very successful for HIMS. A total of 7.22 M€ was externally acquired from important old and new subsidiaries such as NRSC-C, NWO (including various personnel grants), DPI, CatchBio, etc.
The scientific output of HIMS was on a high level in 2008. HIMS published 11 papers in absolute top journals (impact factor > 10). The number of HIMS publications (total 165) as well as the number of PhD dissertations (21) in 2008 was higher than in 2007, reflecting the increasing personnel input the last year.
The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of HIMS performed a mid-term review of the research quality in 2008. On that occasion a bibliometric analysis was performed over the period 2001-2007. All five HIMS core research themes obtained individual scores well above the international standard for the CPP/FCSm value (an important indicator of a publication's impact compared to the international average). For HIMS as a whole the CPP/FCSm was 1.58.
For all these achievements HIMS was elected as Institute of the year 2008 at the Dies of the Faculty, at which occasion Joost Reek and Peter Hauwert presented ‘Het Chemisch Spektakel'
In 2008 the financial situation of HIMS has much improved as compared with the situation a few years ago. HIMS finished the year 2008 with a positive financial result of 0.9 M€ As a direct consequence, several important new scientific staff appointments could be realized in 2008, resulting, after years of decreasing numbers, in an increase in scientific staff members. We strongly hope to continue this positive trend for 2009.