Dit artikel is een samenvatting van mijn proefschrift over Schumans Europa en zijn referentiekader dat de oorspronkelijke visie weergeeft van de grondlegger van de Europese eenwording, Robert Schuman. Het laat zien hoe zijn gedachten, persoonlijkheid, katholieke geloof en afkomst uit Elzas-Lotharingen samenkomen in zijn visie op Europese eenwording. Hij ziet de raison d'être van de Europese eenwording bij het Europees spiritueel en cultureel erfgoed. Effectieve solidariteit over de grenzen heen beschouwt hij een logisch gevolg daarvan. Schuman is van mening dat de integratie stapje voor stapje zal moeten plaatsvinden en generaties zal duren. De nationale belangen zullen in dit proces en in deze visie van eenwording zoveel mogelijk worden ontzien, tenzij deze ingaan tegen de gemeenschappelijk Europese belangen. Schumans zienswijze werpt een verfrissende blik op de huidige situatie van de EU en geeft inzicht in de oorzaak van de EU-problemen. Het levert daarmee een denkkader waarmee gewerkt kan worden aan de oplossing. ABSTRACT This article is an excerpt of a doctoral dissertion on Schuman's Europe and his frame of reference that represents the original vision of the founder of the European union, Robert Schuman. It displays that his thoughts, personality, catholic religion and origin from Elzas-Lotharingen come together in his vision on the European union. He sees the raison d'être of European integration to the European spiritual and cultural heritage. He considers effective solidarity beyond borders thereof as a logical consequence. Schuman believes that the integration will take place step by step and will take generations. The national interests will be spared as much as possible in the process, unless these go against the common European interests. Schuman's way of thinking casts a refreshing look on the current situation of the European Union and provides insight into the cause of the European problems. It provides a conceptual framework that can be used for a solution.
Decentralised renewable energy production in the form of fuels or electricity can have large scale deployment in future energy systems, but the feasibility needs to be assessed. The novelty of this paper is in the design and implementation of a mixed integer linear programming optimisation model to minimise the net present cost of decentralised hydrogen production for different energy demands on neighbourhood urban scale, while simultaneously adhering to European Union targets on greenhouse gas emission reductions. The energy system configurations optimised were assumed to possibly consist of a variable number or size of wind turbines, solar photovoltaics, grey grid electricity usage, battery storage, electrolyser, and hydrogen storage. The demands served are hydrogen for heating and mobility, and electricity for the households. A hydrogen residential heating project currently being developed in Hoogeveen, The Netherlands, served as a case study. Six scenarios were compared, each taking one or multiple energy demand services into question. For each scenario the levelised cost of hydrogen was calculated. The lowest levelised cost of hydrogen was found for the combined heating and mobility scenario: 8.36 €/kg for heating and 9.83 €/kg for mobility. The results support potential cost reductions of combined demand patterns of different energy services. A sensitivity analysis showed a strong influence of electrolyser efficiency, wind turbine parameters, and emission reduction factor on levelised cost. Wind energy was strongly preferred because of the lower cost and the low greenhouse gas emissions, compared to solar photovoltaics and grid electricity. Increasing electrolyser efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reduction of the used technologies deserve further research.
In publications addressing literary reflections on Europe, little attention has been paid to emerging cultural networks, the role of EU subsidies, or literary organisations engaging writers in initiatives aimed at contemplating the challenges that the European Union faces. This dissertation aims to explain the role of new initiatives by presenting four recent, transnational literary projects as case studies: the “Literatur Express Europa 2000”; “The European Constitution in Verse”; “Narratives for Europe”; and “The Return of Europe”. The projects were analysed through an examination of three fundamental aspects: the expectations held by the cultural organisations regarding their initiatives; the cultural artefacts resulting from the projects; and the effects of the projects in the public sphere. By selecting literary projects about Europe as case studies, rather than individual authors or texts, this research allows for an interdisciplinary approach that reveals the interaction between EU politics, civil society, cultural networks, and individual authors.
LINK
Aeres University of Applied Sciences has placed internationalisation as a key driver in its overall strategy. By prioritising the internationalisation of education and educational consultancy the university has created solid opportunities for students, lecturers, and partners at regional, national, and international levels. Currently, more strategic development on internationalisation in applied research at Aeres is needed. There is an opportunity to utilise highly proficient researchers, state-of-the-art facilities, and an impressive national research portfolio, and for this, there is a need to develop international research agenda, a key priority for AeresResearch4EU. To address this need, Aeres University of Applied Sciences aims to strengthen its internationalisation efforts with its research activities, opening the door to many opportunities, and most importantly, creating an international research agenda spanning the university's three locations. The main objectives of AeresResearch4EU are to analyse the existing research strategy and professorships and develop them towards a global research agenda for the European Union. By focusing on international research projects, Aeres can further enhance its reputation as a leading institution for applied research in agriculture, food, environment, and green technologies. AeresResearch4EU aims to create new partnerships and collaborations with researchers and institutions across Europe, allowing Aeres to contribute to developing innovative and sustainable solutions to global challenges. With its strong commitment to internationalisation and its focus on applied research, Aeres University of Applied Sciences is poised to become an essential player in the European research landscape.
A continuation and update of the first ALT-ER project, which produced an app for early-years students that allowed them to express their feelings and tell stories related to pro-social and important developmental themes. This follow-up project will expand the software and themes, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, to reflect a wider range of experiences for young people.
The seaweed aquaculture sector, aimed at cultivation of macroalgal biomass to be converted into commercial applications, can be placed within a sustainable and circular economy framework. This bio-based sector has the potential to aid the European Union meet multiple EU Bioeconomy Strategy, EU Green Deal and Blue Growth Strategy objectives. Seaweeds play a crucial ecological role within the marine environment and provide several ecosystem services, from the take up of excess nutrients from surrounding seawater to oxygen production and potentially carbon sequestration. Sea lettuce, Ulva spp., is a green seaweed, growing wild in the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea. Sea lettuce has a high nutritional value and is a promising source for food, animal feed, cosmetics and more. Sea lettuce, when produced in controlled conditions like aquaculture, can supplement our diet with healthy and safe proteins, fibres and vitamins. However, at this moment, Sea lettuce is hardly exploited as resource because of its unfamiliarity but also lack of knowledge about its growth cycle, its interaction with microbiota and eventually, possible applications. Even, it is unknown which Ulva species are available for aquaculture (algaculture) and how these species can contribute to a sustainable aquaculture biomass production. The AQULVA project aims to investigate which Ulva species are available in the North Sea and Wadden Sea which can be utilised in onshore aquaculture production. Modern genomic, microbiomic and metabolomic profiling techniques alongside ecophysiological production research must reveal suitable Ulva selections with high nutritional value for sustainable onshore biomass production. Selected Ulva spp lines will be used for production of healthy and safe foods, anti-aging cosmetics and added value animal feed supplements for dairy farming. This applied research is in cooperation with a network of SME’s, Research Institutes and Universities of Applied Science and is liaised with EU initiatives like the EU-COST action “SeaWheat”.
