Bert van der Zwaan

Bert van der Zwaan was Rector Magnificus of Utrecht University from 2011 to 2018 and President of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) from 2015 to 2018. Before his appointment as Rector, he was Director of The Darwin Center for Biogeosciences and Dean of the Faculty of Geosciences at Utrecht University. He studied geology and biology at VU University Amsterdam, and obtained a PhD from Utrecht University. Bert’s main research interest involved (paleo)ecology, although already early in his career he participated in many interdisciplinary programmes. In recent years, he has been thinking extensively about the future of the university, both in Europe and beyond. In his open access book, Higher Education in 2040. A Global Approach he actively considers some of the complex and profound ways in which universities may need to change in order to survive and thrive over the next 20 to 25 years.