Thursday March 21st

19:45 live music by Radiant Wood
20:15 speakers
Café Loburg

The quest for being the best is iconic for many people. Whether it is professional sport or amateur sport, participants are exploring the boundaries of how fast they can get to the finish line. They all aim at improving their performance in every race, as the winner takes it all! We are in awe of impressive achievements, yet at the same time we question them because stories of doping use keep popping up. In this Science cafe we explore the (mis)use of doping with two eminent speakers on this topic. Our first speaker, Prof. Hidde Haisma, will introduce what doping actually is, and will explain the new developments in doping, notably the use of gene doping. Our second speaker is sport philosopher Dr. Ron Welters who will question our attitude toward the use of doping. What are the boundaries? Which technical and medical advancements do we find acceptable to use as performance enhancers, and which ones not? Is being the fastest or strongest the only thing or is there still something like ‘the Spirit of Sport’? We look forward to discuss these issues with the speakers and with you in this Science cafe!

Prof. Hidde Haisma is a Professor in Therapeutic Gene Modulation at the University of Groningen. His research is devoted to the development of genetic medicines for therapeutic intervention of gene expression in patients. Prof. Haisma obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Utrecht with the thesis “Monoclonal antibodies and cancer”. Next he worked as scientist for the Department of Medical Oncology, Free University Hospital of Amsterdam. In 1997 he was appointed Assistant Professor/section leader of the Division Gene Therapy within this department. In 2000, he left Amsterdam to become a full professor at the University of Groningen. Prof. Haisma is a member of the Gene and Cell Doping Expert Group of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Dr. Ron Welters is a teacher and researcher at the Philosophy and Science Studies department of the Institute for Science in Society of Radboud University Nijmegen. Until 2015 he taught courses in the Philosophy of Sport, Food Ethics, Ethos of Science, Scientific Writing, Science & Media & Effective Communication of Biomedical Research. As of 2016 he teaches History & Philosophy of sport. In 2018 he finished his PhD thesis, entitled Cycling for Life -Towards a Sustainable Philosophy of Sport. In 2015 he was elected as a board member of the European Association for the Philosophy of Sport.

Thursday February 28th

19:45 live music by Zafron Soul
20:15 speakers
Café Loburg

Estimations point out that in about 10 years the population of planet Earth will almost reach 9 billion people. With this comes the question on how to feed everyone. And how to do it without compromising the quality of our planet. In this Science Café, we will focus on the technological developments that help increase yields in a sustainable way. Sjaak Bakker, from Wageningen Plant Research, will highlight the developments in horticulture. Corne Kempenaar, senior researcher in precision farming at Wageningen Plant Research International, will focus on techniques and technology related to farming. We will look at how far we have come in terms of production but also how these tools can be used to bring us to a new level, Agriculture 2.0.