Harry Baayen, who was the Deltares managing director until 2012, is taking up the position of chairman of the new board of the Netherlands Institute for Marine Research (NIOZ).
The NIOZ, which has operations on the island of Texel and in Yerseke, intends to adopt a new strategy involving an extension and upgrading of its role as a national marine research institute.
Harry Baayen joined the NIOZ on 12 May as an acting member of the board. The board in place resigned at that time. Harry Baayen was asked to draft a plan to tackle the NIOZ’s financial difficulties. The problems had arisen due to the gradual reduction of the basic funding from the parent organization, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, and a fall in revenue from commercial projects. At the same time, the NIOZ was facing major increases in costs.
The other new board members are Bas Büchner (the president of MARIN), Luc Kohsiek (a member of the Deltares Supervisory Board and Imares-Wageningen University and Research Centre, Dike Reeve of the Hoogheemraadschap Noorderkwartier water management authority) and Jack Middelburg (professor of geochemistry at Utrecht University).
Press Release