You won’t catch Professor Liesbeth Janssen taking the easy road. The theoretical physicist has a fascination for challenging and complex scientific problems. She has been working for twelve years to understand the theory of the glass phase, one of the biggest unsolved problems in physics. With the Athena Award, NWO rewards Janssen’s excellent scientific work and active role in promoting diversity and inclusion.
"Many scientists have been working for decades to understand the glass phase, but the mystery has not yet been cracked," says Liesbeth Janssen in her office in Flux. However, Janssen is not discouraged by this. "It is a multi-year plan, a Scientific innovations and new methods, such as the rise of machine learning, bring new insights and possibilities. That’s what makes this subject so fun and diverse."
It gives her energy when she works on this challenge with her Non-Equilibrium Soft Matter group at the Department of Applied Physics and Science Education. "The PhD candidates and students in my group are excellent, and working with them feels like a privilege. Everyone has their ideas to take our field further."
In physics, the glass phase is considered a unique form of a solid. While the material feels hard, it lacks a regular crystalline structure. Physicists still cannot explain the transition from a liquid to this particular solid form. Solving this mystery will bring numerous applications within reach. Fast-working computer chips, for example, or recyclable plastic. The glass phase can even help us better understand asthma and cancer metastasis.
We all learned it in high school: the three best-known states of matter are gas, liquid, and solid. A material with the same molecules can switch between these three states. If it does so, it will behave entirely differently. The difference lies in the movement of the molecules: as the temperature increases, they become more energetic.
But there is a phase that looks like a liquid and a solid simultaneously: the glass phase. The material behaves like a solid on the outside, but inside, it appears as disorderly as a liquid. Nonetheless, as far as physics is concerned, a material in the glass phase is a solid. Janssen and her group try to fathom this phase.
Photo: Vincent van den Hoogen
Janssen believes it is essential to constantly argue why fundamental research is so desperately needed. "Fundamental research is the basis of all’innovation. However, I am also consciously looking at possible future applications of this research. This is not only because I believe that the taxpayers’ money invested in this should yield something for society but also for myself, my field, and my students. I can’t ask them to dedicate a few months of their lives to this research if I can’t explain what they are doing it for."
She clarifies: "It is difficult to predict how curiosity-driven fundamental research can eventually be applied. However, the resources are too scarce to see that as a license to investigate something arbitrarily."
I consciously look at possible future applications of this research. Liesbeth Janssen
"It is worthwhile to think in advance about possible applications of fundamental research. Based on that, you can estimate which fundamental lines of research could become the most interesting or impactful."
Cancer
Janssen is very enthusiastic about the possible application of the knowledge about the glass phase in biology, such as tissues. "Ten years ago, I could not have imagined that it could help to better predict the risk of cancer metastases at an early stage. In this way, a new domain and perspective constantly opens up."Click on the picture to watch a video with this year’s Athena Award winners. Photo: Vincent van den Hoogen
Role models
The Athena Award is awarded to two outstanding female researchers who have also made exceptional efforts to, for example, team science, diversity & inclusion, or as role models. In addition to Janssen, Professor Hannah Dugdale of the University of Groningen also won this year’s Athena Award."It is a great honor for me, especially because I know who has won this award before," says Janssen. She mentions TU/e professor Adriana Creatore , who won the Athena Award in 2021. And colleague Daniela Kraft from Leiden University, who received the prize in 2019. "These are inspiring women and role models for me. It is very special that I am now on this list. By the way, I also have many male role models. Almost all’of them are scientists."
Diverse teams
Janssen says she has mixed feelings about the award because it revolves around women. At the same time, she sees diversity as being much broader than gender. For her, it’s all’about building a diverse team of scientists."Good science requires different ideas, creativity, and new perspectives. For that, you need different people in all dimensions. Think of gender, ethnicity, neurodiversity, background, skills, and differences in the topics they work on. With a diverse team, you can innovate more easily, switch faster, and respond better to important developments."
The need for diversity is as obvious to me as the need for a laptop or a desk - it is simply a requisite to get good work done.
Liesbeth Janssen
"Diversity is not a goal in itself - it is a requirement to achieve things in science. I think it’s a shame that diversity is sometimes reduced to a political must. The need for diversity is as obvious to me as the need for a laptop or a desk - it is simply a requisite to get good work done. Diverse teams take you further."
Prize money
"Step one is to listen to the group that is underrepresented. You must put your ego aside and accept that you have a huge blind spot. This is a difficult but essential step because your viewpoint isn’t necessarily applicable to others. It is vital to gain more understanding of each other’s perspectives. There is much to be gained there for students, the staff, and everyone."
Well-being first
When Kees Storm became dean of the APSE department two years ago, Janssen was asked to succeed him as chair of the Soft Matter and Biological Physics section. This includes her own research group. In both leadership roles, Janssen focuses on mental well-being and keeping the workload manageable."We all do this work because we are so passionate about it. We want to work on big scientific questions and contribute our part to that. We strive to conduct top-level research, excel in teaching, and contribute to the organization. The bar is set high here."
Room to set your own course
Janssen is aware that this unbridled ambition carries the danger of excessive work pressure. "I try to look within my group at what is essential and what is not. And I give people room to set their own course and follow their preferences and interests.""Health always comes first, and I think it’s important that everyone finds a modus operandi in which they don’t get overworked. And take a break in time. We pay attention to that in our group because I don’t want people to constantly take up more than they can handle."
"At every staff meeting, I ask how everyone is doing. Is there something going on, privately or at work’ We are a close-knit community and try to help each other where we can. There is a positive vibe in our group. I want everyone to enjoy working."
There is a positive vibe in our group. I want everyone to enjoy working. And everyone should be able to work in a way that suits them.
Liesbeth Janssen
Working from home’ No problem
Working from home is always negotiable for Janssen. "Our work mainly takes place on our laptops. If you prefer to work from home and get your work done, be my guest. A PhD candidate in my group with a young family worked abroad for almost two years. He obtained his doctorate with honors. Everyone should be able to work in a way that suits them."For example, Janssen urged a postdoc who had recently become a father to take parental leave and encouraged him to work from home when necessary. "I still set high standards for my people but give them freedom, trust, and responsibility. That works perfectly."
Evening worker
"I prefer to work in the evenings and wish I could do that more often. But with all those meetings, that is not convenient," says Janssen, who works from home in Utrecht a few days a week so that someone is home for dog Bree. Her partner, a professor in Amsterdam, mainly works as an experimental researcher in the lab and is less able to work from home."For years, I have traveled back and forth from Utrecht daily. Nowadays, I ask myself, ’How important is it that I am in Eindhoven every day’’. This is the new reality since the Covid pandemic; the world has changed. We have to deal with that, just as we have to be aware of it when an individual’s life changes."
Support
Janssen’s partner knows better than anyone what it is like to work in the competitive world of academia. "We support and encourage each other enormously. When I got the chance to apply for a job in the United States, he said, ’Definitely go for it’. Having such support from your environment is so valuable. This applies to everyone, but especially to women, who are more likely to drop out of such a challenge because they think they won’t succeed anyway. I’m happy to have someone who doesn’t try to slow me down but helps me keep going."Bold with guts
Not that Janssen needs much encouragement to continue working on her research with enthusiasm. In the nomination for the Athena Award, APSE dean Kees Storm stated: ’She is bold, has more guts than many scientists’.The fact that something is difficult is no reason not to start. Then I say: Let’s do it!
Liesbeth Janssen
Janssen: "He is referring to my work on the theory of glass transition. When I wanted to work on it as a postdoc in New York twelve years ago, my supervisor warned me not to take up that difficult subject."
Janssen ignored the sound advice of her supervisor and, as a postdoc, resolutely dived into research aimed at addressing this still unexplained phenomenon. She continued this with undiminished enthusiasm in Eindhoven with her group, Non-Equilibrium Soft Matter. "If I believe something is important, I will never choose the easy road. Then I say: Let’s do it!"
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Photo: Vincent van den Hoogen
