In memoriam – Prof. Dr Ir Lambertus (Bert) Speelman

A builder in challenging times, a reconciler of science and practice, and a university leader with a clear eye for the future: this is how many within and around Wageningen University & Research (WUR) will remember Bert Speelman. As rector magnificus around the turn of the millennium, he provided leadership during a period of profound transition and financial adversity. This was immediately after the formation of Wageningen UR - the much-debated ‘marriage of convenience’ between the university and the DLO institutes - which initially met with scepticism but grew into the unique agrifood jewel it is today.

Speelman’s scholarly roots lay in agricultural engineering. In his inaugural lecture From Sower to Robot: Images of Agricultural Engineering (1989), he outlined how mechanisation and automation should serve agriculture as a means rather than an end in themselves. This engineering-driven yet socially conscious perspective later came to characterise his style of governance.

In the early 2000s, he positioned Nutrition & Health and the rapid rise of the Life Sciences (genomics) as strategic priorities. In a policy essay published in 2004, he emphasised a multidisciplinary approach, ranging from fundamental research to “genomics and society”. He also highlighted the three major genomics programmes - Biosystems Genomics, Nutrigenomics and Milk Genomics - in which WUR played a leading role. This clear strategic direction significantly enhanced WUR’s national and international visibility.

Under Speelman’s rectorship, WUR took steps that would later result in growth in student enrolment, research capacity and international reputation. At the same time, during the difficult early years following the merger, he worked to build trust and foster joint initiatives that brought the knowledge chain - from fundamental to applied research - closer together.

He consciously invested in intensive, often informal, contacts and took the time to listen carefully to colleagues, also outside formal governance structures. When far-reaching decisions had to be taken, he sought personal dialogue; some staff members even welcomed him into their homes, where he discussed changes in an empathetic yet firm and persistent manner, seeking to build support. This approach ensured that people felt genuinely heard, even when decisions were difficult or painful. His attentiveness, accessibility and ability to guide people through change have proved both rare and deeply valuable.

He was not the loudest voice in the room, but he was the one who bridged differences and broke deadlocks by returning to the substance of the matter. With his passing, WUR loses a rector of the years of transition. Someone who made the house liveable while the scaffolding was still in place.