dr.ir. MMJ (Maarten) Smulders

Maarten Smulders received his MSc degree cum laude in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry in 2005 from the Eindhoven University of Technology (NL). From the same University he received in 2009 his PhD degree under the supervision of Prof. Bert Meijer for research on supramolecular polymers and chiral amplification phenomena.

In 2010 he joined the group of Prof. Jonathan Nitschke at the University of Cambridge (UK) on a NWO Rubicon postdoctoral grant, working on self-assembled metal-organic cages. In October 2012 he moved back to the Netherlands, to work as a NWO VENI grantee in affiliation with Prof. Jeroen Cornelissen, at the University of Twente, on responsive self-assembled materials.

In October 2013, he took up a position as (tenure-track) assistant professor in the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, headed by Prof. Han Zuilhof, at Wageningen University. After joining the Wageningen Young Academy (WYA) in January 2016, he became one of the two co-chairs of the WYA in January 2017; a position he held until April 2019. His membership of the WYA ended April 2021. In 2018 he was awarded a VIDI grant from NWO that allowed him to fortify his research program in dynamic polymer materials. In March 2019 he was promoted to tenured associate professor. In 2020 he became chair of the MAGNEtic resonance research FacilitY (MAGNEFY) at Wageningen University. Having spent a sabbatical leave in the Polymer Chemistry Research group (headed by Prof. Filip Du Prez) at Ghent University in the fall of 2021, in 2022 he became guest professor at the same institute.

His current research interests are in dynamic polymer materials, polymer coatings and polymer (meta)foams.

For more information, www.smulderslab.nl