DIFFER

This week, a group of female secondary school pupils from the Heerbeeck College visited DIFFER as part of Girls’ Day. A perfect occasion to introduce girls to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and to show them that this world is also their world. Girls’ Day at DIFFER means: a morning packed with all kinds of interactive activities designed to give girls a glimpse into the world of energy research and engineering: 🛠️ A visit to the mechanical workshop, where the girls saw how technical components are built to support scientific experiments 💡 A soldering workshop, where they learned to safely use soldering tools and connect electronic components 🙋♀️ Meeting female scientists and technicians, to learn what plasma, magnetism and 'energy of the future' is about Rob Wolfs, Electronics Engineer, looks back on a fruitful and productive morning: “The girls were enthusiastic and during the soldering workshop very concentrated, as the girls were working on their project in silence. Hearing ‘Yes, it works!’ at the end of an hour of focused work is always a sign that they enjoyed it. All girls left DIFFER with a working object.” Girls' Day is an annual event organised by VHTO where thousands of girls meet companies in STEM, engineering and IT. Only 16.6% of workers in STEM, engineering and IT are women. Therefore, DIFFER considers it important to participate in this initiative, and to give a positive and enthusiastic experience to female pupils. #VHTO #GirlsDay2026 #girls #women #STEM #science #technology #engineering #mathematics #event 📸 Bart van Overbeeke

𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿: 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 Small but significant. The Netherlands plays an important role in the international development of fusion energy. At the Dutch Fusion Day on Friday 8 May, four key actors in the emerging Dutch fusion sector will share their promises, plans and perspectives on fusion: ✔️ Hans Priem, Vice President Business Development at VDL Enabling Technologies Group (ETG) ✔️ Naomie Verstraeten, Chief Innovation and Technology at Brainport Development ✔️ Remco Nieuwland, CEO at Somni Solutions ✔️ Iris Crassee, Business Developer at DIFFER What are VDL ETG's plans in the nuclear domain? What is Brainport Development's interest in fusion energy? How did Somni Solutions manage to win several ITER tenders? And what is the added value of fundamental DIFFER research for the private sector? These questions will be answered, and the audience gets the opportunity to ask questions as well. ➡️ Dutch Fusion Day 2026: fusion as a business case, how about that? Read the full programme and sign up on www.dutchfusionday.nl. The Dutch Fusion Day is organised by Technische Universiteit Eindhoven/EIRES – Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems, DIFFER and BigScience.NL. #DFD2026 #dutch #fusion #energy #event #business #industry #strategy #research #collaboration #network

Applications are open for the 2027 EUROfusion Bernard Bigot Researcher Grants funding individual post-doctoral research projects for 2-years starting in 2027. The grant will contribute to the salaries, research and training activities of up to 9 outstanding early career researchers. For details, see our article on our website: https://lnkd.in/ec4nkbgy

🤝 Today, DIFFER attended the Fontys Meet & Match event in Eindhoven. A perfect occasion to meet future talent, and to show them what engineering has to do with science for future energy. Mélanie van Beeck, HR advisor at DIFFER: "What I like about this event, is the opportunity to meet so many ambitious young people. DIFFER offers them various interesting internship options. During speeddates, but also at the company market, I spoke with students from a variety of engineering backgrounds. On top of that, I noticed that they were very interested in DIFFER's research themes." Also precision instrument maker and coordinator Léon Römers looks back on a fruitful day: "What I told the students, is that DIFFER offers them a nice 'package'. What I mean by that, is that at DIFFER you always make something for a colleague who is doing research. That way, you learn more about why something was made. You can look beyond your own field of expertise and thus broaden your knowledge." Thank you for the organisation, Fontys Technology! #energy #research #event #Eindhoven #student #Fontys #engineering #internship #graduation #meetandmatch Patrick Krebaum Sam Labeur Marc Van De Pol Jules Antonis Fontys Hogeschool

Get ready for the latest EXPLORE, DIFFER's quarterly newsletter with news, research and event updates. In this spring edition: 💡 An interview with Loes Jansen to celebrate the International day of women and girls in science 💡 PLD4Energy: Anja Bieberle-Hütter about DIFFER's brand new facility, one with remarkable uniqueness's 💡 Researcher Ameya Ranade who brings together two cutting-edge fields: nuclear fusion and electrochemistry Read this and much more ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eGaXuGyR Sign up for future news updates from our institute ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e3BiJNZ #staytuned and #EXPLORE #newsletter #DIFFER #news #events #energy #science #research

𝗗𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗙𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲: 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 We are proud to present you the programme of the third edition of the Dutch Fusion Day on 8 May 2026 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. On this day, you can expect inspiring presentations from companies involved in shaping the future of fusion energy: ✔️ Proxima Fusion ✔️ Renaissance Fusion ✔️ UKIFS (UK Fusion Energy) ✔️ IFMIF-DONES ✔️ Techleap ➡️ Join us! Read the programme and register soon on www.dutchfusionday.nl.   The Dutch Fusion Day is organised by Technische Universiteit Eindhoven / EIRES – Eindhoven Institute for Renewable Energy Systems, DIFFER and BigScience.NL. #DFD2026 #fusion #energy #event #business #industry #strategy #research #collaboration #network

𝗩𝗮𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝘆: 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗱𝗼𝗰 ‘𝗜𝗻-𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘂 𝗗𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗟𝗗𝟰𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆’ We are looking for an enthusiastic and highly talented experimental material scientist/engineer, chemist or physicist with a solid background in (in-situ) characterization of thin films and/or thin film deposition by vacuum methods. Expertise in Pulsed Laser Deposition is appreciated. 🔎 Take a look at the PLD facility with DIFFER's virtual tour to see what your workplace will look like: https://lnkd.in/edFQSfHN 📝 Visit the DIFFER website to apply for this vacancy: https://lnkd.in/eqh-vFJt #scientist #science #engineer #chemistry #physics #postdoc #research #PLD #PLD4Energy #vacancy #work Anja Bieberle-Hütter

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝗟𝗗𝟰𝗘𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗴𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 🛠️ To accelerate the development of advanced materials for the energy transition, DIFFER is building a new and unique thin film deposition and in-situ characterisation research facility: Pulsed Laser Deposition for Energy (PLD4Energy). The facility can make, analyse, and optimise thin films from small (1 inch) to large (4 inch) diameter for energy applications, such as water splitting, fuel cells, and batteries. After 2.5 years of design, development and construction, it’s time for an update on this innovative project. In this longread (https://lnkd.in/e9wkZEwY) scientific project leader Anja Bieberle gives us a detailed insight into the realisation of this facility. Anja Bieberle-Hütter: “In the PLD4Energy facility, we combine two chambers for thin film deposition by pulsed laser deposition, with one laser in one vacuum line. That way we can study upscaling with as similar conditions as possible in both chambers. In the vacuum line, we also have a sputter chamber that enables -in combination with the PLD- for component development. Another major uniqueness of the facility are the multiple in-situ diagnostics tools around the PLD chambers, the same for both chambers. We do not have such a facility anywhere in the world.” 🤝 A new research facility like PLD4Energy cannot be realised without specific expertise in many fields of science and engineering. Therefore, DIFFER entered into partnerships with University of Twente, Ratio Computer Aided Systems Engineering, and Demcon TSST (supplier of the PLD4Energy base unit). Also, collaboration with the co-applicant Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e), the partners of the project, and companies are set-up. 💐 Thanks to all our partners, we're proud of what we've achieved together so far! #science #engineering #project #thinfilm #deposition #materials #energy #PLD #PLD4energy #hightech #technology Hamidreza Hajihoseini Martijn Graswinckel Marco De Baar NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek)

𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗵𝗮𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 Power exhaust is one of the key challenges in nuclear fusion development. In his PhD research, Bob Kool explored the control of power exhaust in novel power exhaust solutions. On 5 March 2026, Kool successfully defended his thesis. 💡 His work showed that, in addition to improving power exhaust performance, these solutions also bring major advantages for power exhaust control. They might therefore play a crucial role in maintaining feasible exhaust conditions in future nuclear fusion power reactors. Bob Kool demonstrates power exhaust control in alternative divertors for the first time. He conducted experiments on UKAEA’s Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak - Upgrade (MAST-U) in the United Kingdom, where he investigated the benefits and drawbacks of these configurations for power exhaust control systems. 🎉 Congratulations, dr. Kool! Read more about Bob Kool's research and his PhD journey ➡️ https://lnkd.in/empUrpp7 Mechanical Engineering at TU/e UK Atomic Energy Authority Marco De Baar Matthijs van Berkel Kevin Verhaegh #science #fusion #energy #research #PhD #exhaust #control