Lecturing in the Master of International Management at Tilburg University was in "Hybrid mode". It went well, but the campus looked like Minsk in the days after Chernobyl - wiped out, barely any students, no faculty, no chatting and discussions off the plan. Some already call this the “new normal”. Education has become more efficient. It’s good when it comes to admin and collaboration, but bad when it cuts out the discourse. In the long run, efficiency makes stupid. That’s why I hope the real new makes this distinction and keeps a better balance.
We were still lucky that we had on-campus seminars. And even the logistic efforts weaved around the security measures were daunting, it was worth it. I think we made good progress and got to know each other quite well. The last sessions, though, I had to move online, as Nordholland and Südholland were declared Covid-19 risk zones by Germany. Tilburg is in Nord Brabant, so not in any of these provinces. But given that I am about to travel to Hong Kong, and the situation and rules can change quickly, I decided to retreat into Germany and minimize movement.
Even it was different this year, my Tilburg engagement was a pleasure, as always. Students were very co-operative, and I can see over time a constant improvement. Also, the Financial Times Ranking of the programme went up. With a global rank of 49th, the program is now 2nd in The Netherlands. It was ranked 89th in 2017 and 57th in 2019. That's all good news. But still, the learning experience for the students resembles more that of inmates that enrolled at an "Open University" to prepare for life after they served their sentence. One even had two Erasmus exchanges, only to be locked up in an apartment in two countries different from his home.
The rest of the time, besides some research and developing advisory work on the "One Belt, One Road Initiative", it has been quiet and sunny autumn. And there is a new Business Case in the pipeline on the bankruptcy of "Vapiano", a restaurant chain, which will be published by the Asian Case Research Centre (ACRC) soon.
Besides doing some new things, I also stopped doing some others. For example, I stopped following the news on the US. America is such a waste of time. So is the UK. I was just wondering recently, whether these American journalists, politicians and commentators, really have these voices, or this is just a technical distortion by the Internet. If not, perhaps a more potent nasal decongestion spray may help. Or how about reducing vocal air pressure? I always have the impression that they don't breathe naturally, but are ventilated from behind by a compressor through the anus. That would also explain why they talk quite some shit. Anyway, that's other people's problem.
Now I am heading for Hong Kong. All is packed, and formalities are done. I will start my time there with two weeks quarantine, locking myself in a hotel room, being supplied by food delivery services and books on my Kindle. Let's see how that will go. Of course, nobody who enjoys being outdoors likes being contained in such a way. But it will be also interesting, how the body and mind respond to solitary confinement.
Hard to believe it is already October, given this marvellous weather. But this hedgehog I found reminded me that winter is coming. It’s too small to survive a normal winter, so it is prepped up with a mix of butter, oats and minced meat.
Today I had the honor and privilege to address the students to address students of Tilburg University’s Master of International Management Program at their graduation ceremony. In US schools, this is called “commencement speech”, and I like to keep it in the spirit that it is mainly about things to come. We are increasingly releasing students into an unpredictable future. There are unprecedented opportunities and threats side by side. Increasingly education will be the key to finding solutions and inventing the skills needed for problems of which most are still unknown. What makes Tilburg University special, compared to the other schools I teach, is that it is a humanistic university. As a natural scientist by training, I have often ignored the social sciences side of problems. That’s why for example we discussed Climate Change since the 80s but got nothing substantial done until (hopefully) today. This is what we can’t afford to continue doing and without “Understanding Society” (the slogan of Tilburg University) many of our technical capabilities will be in vain or even backfire. First of all, I wish all students graduating now all the best for their professional and personal future. But there is also something for me in graduation events. It’s always a bit like graduating again myself, role up the sleeves, and go out shaping the future with the best I can. This is how University work is a real win-win situation. Good luck to all. See you out there.
In the Aula of Tilburg University - Understanding Society
It is the end of August and I am thinking what to pack for Tilburg, where I am going to spend a month at the University. It is that time of the year, and I am looking forward to it. I have a good memory of what I packed up for last September, and it included a jacket and some wollen pullovers. Over the last 4 years, it has been this time in Tilburg, in which I witnessed the beginning of autumn.
But this year, it appears all differently. Today, in Frankfurt (Main), the forecast is a maximum temperature 33°C. That's more than 10°C above the long term average maximum temperature in August. In terms of rainfall during the core vegetation period, we have not been that dry since over 50 years, Just a few days ago the government decided to compensate partially losses in agriculture. It is for sure, the prices for many basic food items will rise soon. On top of that, there are response measures taken by the EU in response to the agressive US protectionism. This includes some food categories. I am generally not in favour of having long supply chains for food, and for sure many US products are of inferior quality anyways. But no doubt, it will add pressure on food prices.
Today, I went to the Niddapark, behind the house. That's my running trail, from spring time. Also spring this year was warmer than average: both April and May about plus 3°C. But it was still a healthy landscape. Now, the grass is yellow, trees show severe signs of drought stress, and my plan to get some wild Sambucus to make a syrup and jam, ended with looking at the dried berries. Also for yesterday night's picknick at the Main river bank, it was not easy to find a green spot of grass to sit on. Luckily some gardener of an office block decided not to care about the municipal request to cease watering decorative plants, and there was a patch. These are the joys of a financial industry which does not care. Actually, nobody does. I remember, when I studied Geophysics in the late 80s, there were already numerical models showing the direction and the energetic effects of composition changes of the atmosphere were available - even the full complexity was not really understood. Desertification, water scarcity, loss of arable land and it's effects on food supply, living conditions and even resulting migration were already back then quite seriously researched and discussed. I remember very well, a project with Münchner Rückversicherung, doing number crunching to adjust their loss models for future natural disasters. That's why I am a bit puzzled why people are surprised now.
Now I am hoping for an "Indian Summer", which we call "Goldener Herbst". I would not be too surprised though, that while the sun's Zenit moves further South and the Westerly winds kick in at such temperature deltas over the North Atlantic, there will be a bit of wind ahead and winter won't come easy. It was a long summer. The only memory I have of such a year, was the summer drought of 1976. I was just aged 10 back then, and time was endless anyway. Now, this is special.
Dried up Sambucus spoiled my effort to make myself a seasonal jam.
In the Earth Matters exhibition of the Tilburg Textile Museum, I came across an interesting application of Janthinobacter Lividum, and aerobe bacteria, which dark purple colour can be used to dye textiles. Laura Luchtmann and Ilfa Siebenhaar additionally applied sounds at different frequencies to achieve different and very fine patterns. Unfortunately, the photo I took is not clear to show the real colour and its structure. But it's really interesting and very pretty.
One of the exhibits by Laura Luchtmann and Ilfa Siebenhaar showing the color patterns achieves by the application of different sound frequencies on Janthinobacter lividum dying silk (Tilburg Textile Museum, 27.08.2017)
I liked all the museum. It is a mix of historical introduction into the textile industry, which was a commercial pillar of Tilburg. But beyond old machinery, it contains a lab with modern looms and brings the visitor to the innovative side of fabrics.
View into the lab area of the Tilburg Textile Museum.
My Tilburg visit is already over and I have to say, this time, it was too short due to other travel arrangements and my delayed arrival. Students and colleagues were great and it was a real pleasure and privilege to be here. I am looking forward to come back to campus in 2017 and also to explore the Netherlands again a bit more then. Now it is nearly time to head for Malta with a short stop over in Frankfurt. Still no sign of autumn here, which is very exceptional this year.
Exploring the land of canals from the waterside.
Unfortunately, I arrived a week delayed in Tilburg due to my Malaria. And I find the recovery of fitness is going rather slowly. Of course, this is not a complaint, as this kind of Malaria is still a life threatening disease and it seems no surprise that a full recovery is not done in days but weeks. I am visiting Tilburg University and Lecture in the Master of International Management, as I also did last year. It is a very enjoyable environment with bright students, nice colleagues and good infrastructure. It is an amazing late summer this year, while in the same period of 2015 I was taking pictures of a commencing autumn here. Most of Northern Europe is experiencing record temperatures these days. And of course many people see this with pleasure and concern at the same time.
I am also looking a bit deeper into the economic development of Tilburg, including the recovery from the time after the decline of the textile and leather industry. One of the newest achievement is that Tesla has opened an assembly plant, in the commercial zone. The city revived after depression with services, logistics, food and beverage production. It is experimenting with "unconditional minimum income" for every citizen, no ties attached. And it turned itself, not into an architectural beauty, but a modern and clean habitat, which in many ways appears like it could serve as a model for others and future cities. This fits into a research topic I am going to deepen in 2017 with some projects.
Tesla at Tilburg. After a great test drive of the Model S (photo snapped by Jeroen Kuilman).
There is a myth around a special kind of light, which is said to have been the greatest source of inspiration for the painters of the Dutch golden age from the 17th century. In the 1970s the German artist Joseph Beuys postulated that this light has lost its radiance for good in the 1950s and with its disappearance it ended a special visual culture which lasted for centuries. Beuys saw the reason for its disappearance in the massive land reclamation project in the Zuyderzee (also Zuiderzee), which was a shallow bay, cut off the North Sea by a man made barrier which turned parts of it into the freshwater lake IJsselmeer. In a massive land reclamation project, the Netherlands gained a new province, called Flevoland. Peter-Rim DeKroon and Maarten DeKroon produced the documentary movie Dutch Light which compiles views on the subject, for example by the arts historian Svetlana Alpers, the painter Jan Andriesse, Jan Dibbets, as well as the astronomer Vincent Icke, who often refers to Marcel Minnaert, also an astronomer and author of The Nature of Light in open Air. There are numerous articles exploring the field, like for example Robert Greenler and David K. Lynch in 30 OPN Optics & Photonics News on A Return to Optics’ Roots. A special Dutch light on paintings might have also been a certain technique and skill, which was more strongly represented by the Dutch painters' style. When browsing through paintings of that period, I also noticed quite a few indoor scenes and portraits which are very deceptive in terms of light and brightness. But it could as well be an atmospheric phenomena, as some claim. To me the land reclamation of the Zuyderzee, which is said to have changed atmospheric conditions, albedo and reflection in a way that the Dutch light might have disappeared, seems, even given its size, too small to cause such changes on a broader level. The physicist Günther Können, who is the head head of the climate analysis department of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, is also skeptical that there is anything like a Dutch light today. It is likely that it was not the light, but the flatness of the landscape, the low clouds and the steady line of the horizon which gave a special perception of light in the Netherlands. The "low sky" (meaning the clouds) is really one of the things I noticed in my month here in the Netherlands. And when the sun breaks though the clouds, the landscape looks sometimes very dramatic. Perhaps that's what makes the light appear more radiant: the contrast.
IJsselmeer by LANDSAT (Public Domain, NASA, https://zulu.ssc.nasa.gov/mrsid/)
A few months ago, I received a surprise invitation to come to Tilburg University and teach in the Master in International Management Program. Luckily the program team could schedule the course very compact in one month, and after I cleaned up my calendar own a bit, we could fit it in. A few days ago, we arrived from London, had a very warm welcome and are very happy to be here. In the Netherlands, Tilburg University is, aside the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, very well represented in global economics and business research. It is a small place with a big punch. Already in my first days here, I experienced a very nice and open working environment, and taught my first lectures to very bright students. What is further remarkable, is the high degree of interaction, and the resulting spirit. I have been to the Netherlands as a visitor before and was in contact with people and culture. But this is the first time, I have a little bit of a deeper insight into the work life. And it is very enjoyable, practical, strait forward, and well managed. The city of Tilburg itself, also is also in this spirit. At the end of the 1800s it developed into the "Wool Capital" of the Netherlands and build up a strong textile industry. It was only in the 1960s that this industry collapsed and the economic mix is now leaning towards services - mainly logistics. During the first phase of economic and urban renewal, many old buildings, including monuments, were demolished. These measures seem very disputed until today. But for me, who does not know the old Tilburg, the city has its charm and represents a very successful case of such transitions. We definitely enjoy being here.
A morning view on the Tilburg University campus
