Martiniplaza Groningen

Christian Zuidema

Christian Zuidema is a known lecturer and researcher within the Faculty of Spatial Sciences. His research and teaching come together under the heading of ‘Planning for Sustainable Transformations’. Following his PhD work on environmental planning, he increasingly engaged with topics such as sustainable urban management and integrated energy planning. His research interests also include theoretical work on governance renewal, post-contingency, adaptive planning and decentralisation. He is and has been involved in numerous international research projects, notably on the topic of Integrated Energy Planning. Next to this, he is a member of the advisory council of the Groninger Energiekoepel and a board member of the International Urban Planning & Environment Association (IUPEA).

During the Geo Promotion Conference he will take the role of chair of the day upon himself. This means that he will lead the plenary session and introduces the speakers, as well as leading the interaction with the room.

Gerrit Hiemstra

The first speaker of the Geo Promotion conference 2025 is Gerrit Hiemstra!

Gerrit graduated from Wageningen University as an Agricultural Engineer. During his career he has worked for KNMI and you might know him as the former weather presenter at the NOS, the Dutch public broadcasting channel.

Next to his meteorologic background, he gained expertise in the fields of climate innovation and sustainability. Last year, he received an honorary doctorate at the University of Groningen for his achievements as an expert on the effects of climate change.

Next to this, he is one of the co-founders of Oarshûs, a friesian company focused on building future proof houses. Gerrit Hiemstra is also the founder of Weather Impact, an international engineering firm in the field of weather and climate.

During his keynote, Gerrit will talk about the relevance of the energy transition and give his perspective from building future proof houses.

Mariëlle Feenstra

The second speaker of the Geo Promotion Conference 2025 is Mariëlle Feenstra!

Mariëlle Feenstra graduated from the University of Twente with a Master’s degree in International Relations. After working for 15 years as a policy advisor for different municipalities in the Netherlands, she got back to the University of Twente and got her PhD in Gender & Energy Policy and became Doctor of Philosophy. She is co-founder and Scientific Director of 75inQ, an institute focused on a more inclusive energy transition. Next to that, she just started as ‘senior advisor European energy policy’ at Enexis where she looks at the European energy prospects. Her contribution as a gender-energy pioneer have been acknowledged both in academia and in practice by invitation to participate in policy formulation activities for the European Union and the United Nations. During her keynote, Marielle will touch upon the underexposed faces of the energy transition. She will dive deeper in the aspects of the energy transition that are often left unmentioned like energy poverty and the equality within the energy transition.

Jimme Zoete

The third speaker of the Geo Promotion Conference 2025 is Jimme Zoete!

The transition to sustainable energy is an enormous challenge. Especially because it has to happen in many different sectors. For example, homes have to get off natural gas, mobility is switching from fossil fuels to clean ones and the industrial sector has to become more sustainable.

Jimme, alumnus of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, started as a planner at Witteveen+Bos 11 years ago. After his first wind farm project, things got out of hand and since he has worked exclusively on energy projects.

His keynote takes us through the spatial challenge of the energy transition, the most important lessons and challenges, and makes the energy transition tangible by translating it into projects.