FYSICA

Fysica 2025

Marjolein Dijkstra (UU), winner of the Physica Prize 2025 will hold the traditional Physica Prize lecture. She has made significant contributions to advancing physics in the Netherlands, not only through her mentorship of dozens of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers but also through her active involvement in shaping physics policy. Dijkstra was among the first physicists in the Netherlands to explore the field of active (self-propelled) particles, which has since become an active field in soft matter physics.

Young Speakers Contest

Evan Usher (AMOLF) has been chosen as the winner of the Young Speakers Contest 2025. After competing with over 20 candidates in the pre-selection and semi-finals, the public at the NNV's FYSICA Congress on 11 April 2025 in Leiden voted him as the winner over his competitors Kian van der Enden and Pranati Kharbandi. The title comes with a prize of 250 euros. Moreover, all nine semi-finalists had the opportunity to follow a one day presentation course.

Every year the Young Speakers Contest is one of the highlights of the FYSICA meeting. It is a contest for the best oral presentation by an early career physicist (PhD candidate or post-doc) working at a university or research institute in The Netherlands. During a plenary session, three finalists will present their own research, in English, during a 10 minute presentation. All participants from the conference can cast a vote to select a winner.

From the list of all people that entered the competition, a jury invited nine candidates to enter the semi-final at Leiden University, scheduled at Leiden University on Friday March 14th, where candidates gave a presentation-pitch to the jury that seelcted the three finalists.