Ralph Wijers

  Prof. Wijers is an expert in multi-wavelength emission from extreme explosions, with a focus on gamma-ray bursts and new unknown radio transients. In the recent past he focused on wide-field searches for new radio transients with LOFAR, and on modelling the physics of gamma-ray bursts in detail. He is exploring methods to connect observations of gamma-ray bursts more directly to their basic physics. Wijers is an NWO vici and ERC  Advanced Grant laureate,  co-investigator of various large instrument projects and member of  the Royal Netherlands and European Academies of Arts and Sciences. He is a former director of the Anton Pannekoek Institute and chair of the Raad voor de Astronomie (National Astronomy Strategic Planning Council) and co-editor of two decadal plans for Dutch astronomy. He is an editor of Monthly Notices, arXiv physics editor and arXiv  editor in chief. He was awarded the EU Descartes Prize with an international team for his work on gamma-ray bursts. He has advised over 50 PhD candidates.