Hubertus Irth named Interim Dean of the Faculty of Science
The Executive Board has appointed Professor Hubertus Irth as Interim Dean of the Faculty of Science at Leiden University. Professor Irth will take up his post on 15 September 2019, replacing Geert de Snoo, who has been appointed as Director of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW).
At present, Professor Irth is the Scientific Director of the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR), one of the institutes of the Faculty of Science. Carel Stolker, Rector Magnificus and President of the Executive Board of Leiden University, said, ‘Hubertus Irth knows the University and Faculty well from his academic career, and is an experienced administrator who can thus ensure stability and administrative continuity.’ The process of recruiting a new dean has now begun.
Hubertus Irth
Hubertus Irth worked as a researcher at LACDR from 1991 to 1999, when he was appointed as Professor of Biomolecular Analysis at VU Amsterdam. He has a considerable track record as an administrator. He was Dean of the Faculty of Exact Sciences at VU Amsterdam from 2010 to 2013, and Vice-Dean of the Faculties of Exact Sciences and Earth and Life Sciences at the same university from 2014 to 2016. After a brief interim period as Dean of both of these faculties, he returned to Leiden in 2016 to take up the post of Scientific Director of LACDR.
Irth had the following to say about his appointment as Interim Dean, ‘The Faculty of Science is a fantastic faculty with a strong focus on fundamental research and interdisciplinarity. This is linked to excellent teaching programmes and the firm embedding of the Faculty in the Leiden Bio Science Park. I am all too pleased to take the helm at the Faculty until a new dean has been appointed.’