Celebrating women as leaders

Wittenborg University of Applied Sciences is pleased to announce that Advisory Board and International Academic Advisory Panel member Prof. Dr IR Petra C. de Weerd-Nederhof has been inaugurated as professor of ‘Innovation of technology-driven ecosystems’ at the Open Universiteit. She will become part of the Faculty of Science. This includes information science, computer science and environmental sciences. The inaugural ceremony was attended by Wittenborg CEO and SER Topvrouw Maggie Feng as well as former Wittenborg Vice President Ronald Tuninga, who was appointed to the AACSB last year.

In Petra’s academic contributions she makes the point: “Resilience in, and of, these technology-driven ecosystems is crucial for longer-term innovation and change capacity.” Described by colleagues as, “well-respected and well-connected”, she has also stressed there is a need to “continue to innovate and resiliently structure the ecosystem itself in order to achieve truly sustainable deep-tech innovation performance.” On 17 March, Petra will address students at Wittenborg’s Spoorstraat campus on this topic.
Prof. Ad Kil remarked, “Wittenborg is lucky to have her on board. I am looking forward to working with her closely in the near future to further develop Wittenborg’s applied research strategy.”

Petra herself highlighted the importance of the Fellowship of Female Deans & Directors. “The Mondrian dress pin I always give the members of that fellowship as a gift is symbolic of this.” Wittenborg CEO Feng received the Mondrian pin in January 2023 in Apeldoorn. She notes she was very honoured to have been invited to join this group, especially as female leadership comes to the forefront of international professional discourse.

“We need to unite ourselves, pave the way for one another and be visible to not only the education community but beyond. As FFDD members, we have a duty to inspire others and make sure our female junior colleagues will have an easier and smoother career pathway than we have had. Enough talk about changes, action needs to be taken now,” Feng affirmed.

WUP 08/02/2023
by Olivia Nelson
©WUAS Press