prof.dr.ir. D (Dick) de Ridder

In my role as Dean of Education (0.8 fte), I am responsible for the development, quality, and implementation of regular education, continuing education, extracurricular education, and support processes within WUR. I also lead the Education & Student Affairs (ESA) staff department.

As a professor in data-driven bioinformatics (0.2 fte), part of the Bioinformatics Group, I work on computer algorithms and models to study the living cell at the molecular level. I am interested in how measurement data can be integrated with prior knowledge about a problem to be solved by (machine learning) algorithms, and how results can be generated that are instrumental for further experiments. We apply these methods both ourselves and in collaboration with partners in academia and industry (particularly in green and white biotechnology) to address a wide range of biological questions. I am co-PI in CropXR, a Dutch research consortium established in 2023 to contribute to improving agricultural production by reducing its vulnerability to climate change.