Sjoukje Heimovaara is since 1 July 2022 President of the Executive Board of Wageningen University & Research (WUR). She studied Plant Breeding at Wageningen and obtained her PhD at Leiden University. She subsequently worked at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and the international plant breeding company Royal Van Zanten, as Research & Development (R&D) director and thereafter as CEO. Heimovaara knows the plant breeding and research world like the back of her hand and has been getting to know the food world as Director at the Agrotechnology and Food Sciences Group (AFSG) at WUR.
Sjoukje Heimovaara has cross-sector experience in government, contract research, fundamental research, higher education, as well as in the corporate world. Within WUR, she works on generating, applying and disseminating scientific knowledge from the fields of research and education for the benefit of society. And thus, contributing to a healthier and sustainable world.
Additional functions Sjoukje Heimovaara is a council member and deputy chair of the Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (AWTI), which advises the Dutch government and parliament on policy concerning science, technology, and innovation.
She is also a SDG 12.3 Champion, executive member of the Board of Topinstituut for Food and Nutrition (TIFN), member of the Supervisory Board of the Institute for Sustainable Process Technology (ISPT), member of the Supervisory Board of the Carbohydrate Competence Centre (CCC), member of the programme committee NWO KIC and member of the programme committee of One Planet.