After consulting the University Council, the Board of Governors has today appointed Prof. Simone P. Niclou as Vice Rector of the University of Luxembourg, with responsibility in particular for research, doctoral education and interdisciplinarity.
A Luxembourger, Prof. Niclou is an internationally renowned expert in the field of Neuro-Oncology. Currently working at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), where she leads the Department of Cancer Research since 2019, Prof. Niclou has previously held positions in the executive team of CRP Santé, the predecessor to LIH. From 2015 to 2019, she also chaired the Board of Directors of the Laboratoire national de santé (LNS).
After studying Biology at Fribourg University in Switzerland, Prof. Niclou obtained a Doctorate in Cellular Biology from the Friedrich Miescher-Institut and the University of Basel. She led an international career as a postdoctoral researcher, moving from the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, to the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam.
Prof. Niclou is an expert in the field of medicine and health, a strategic priority of the University of Luxembourg. As Vice Rector for Research, her international career, her knowledge of the country, her profound interest in the role of research for societal development and her vision for research at the University will allow her to play a key role in the further development of the institution as a world-class research university.
She will succeed Prof. Jens Kreisel who has been nominated as Rector of the University of Luxembourg as of 1 January 2023. Prof. Niclou will start her role on 1 March 2023, with a five-year mandate.