Alfons Hoekstra Appointed as Director of IvI

Alfons Hoekstra, professor of Computational Science and Engineering, succeeds Marcel Worring, professor of Data Science for Business Analytics as Director of IvI. Hoekstra has been affiliated with the UvA since 1994 and in 2019 he was appointed full professor Computational Science and Engineering. He leads the Computational Science Lab of IvI. His research interests are multiscale modelling and computing, uncertainty quantification, and the Virtual Physiological Human.

Informatics Institute

IvI delivers education on the highest level to a large and growing number of students in the Information Sciences. Without exception these students find challenging positions in various profit and non-profit sectors. The institute is also on the forefront of fundamental scientific research and innovation in Information Sciences, with a focus on AI, Data Science, Systems and Security, and Computational and Complexity Sciences. The nine renowned research groups participate in a growing number of public-private-partnerships, mainly in the form of research labs in the Innovation Centre for AI (ICAI).

IvI experienced growth under Marcel Worring’s leadership. As it stands now, this growth will continue. Alfons Hoekstra looks forward to keep IvI on its course, and he wants to pay particular attention to further strengthening and professionalizing the current education portfolio. IvI will continue to invest in strong partnerships on an international, national and regional level such as with the City of Amsterdam and of course within the UvA. In addition, IvI is preparing for the move to the new building Lab42, which will become a hotspot of Information Sciences and co-creation for students, scientists and entrepreneurs.

Looking back, Marcel Worring concludes that the institute has gone through an exciting, eventful, but also wonderful time in recent years. Worring commented, “IvI is doing well and I am confident that with Alfons Hoekstra as director this will be further expanded. He has the drive and good plans. I wish him a lot of success and wisdom for the coming years.”