As of 1 January 2026, Matz Liebel (DPhil) will join the advisory board of the Dutch Physics Council (DPC) as the new representative of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, succeeding Prof. Roberta Croce. The Physics and Astronomy department thanks Prof. Roberta Croce for her valuable contributions during her time on the board.
Matz received his DPhil in ultrafast vibrational spectroscopy from the University of Oxford in 2014 and continued his research at ICFO -The Institute of Photonic Sciences in Spain, where he developed pioneering approaches in ultrasensitive label-free detecting and sensing as well as ultrafast holographic imaging schemes. In 2019, he was awarded a JIN MINECO fellowship, which enabled him to further advance holographic methods in the context of biological and biomedical imaging, work which ultimately resulted in the award of an ERC StG to develop vibrational phototransient imaging. Matz joined the Biophotonics & Medical Imaging group at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, VU Amsterdam as an Assistant Professor in 2023. His team is developing biomedical imaging and sensing methodologies with broad applicability in the pharmaceutical, biological and biomedical fields.