Dear all,
We hope you have enjoyed a wonderful summer break! And a special warm welcome to new students and employees in the field of systems and control!
In the mean time the new DISC course programme 2025-2026 has been released! Please check out the DISC website for the whole programme, see also the next item in this Newsletter.
We are also happy to announce the DISC Winter School early 2026, and the 45th edition of the yearly Benelux meeting on Systems and Control which will be held in Belgium from 24-26 March 2026. Further information will follow!
Further some other interesting events will take this place this autumn, please find more details in this Newsletter under Events.
We wish you a good start of the new academic year 2025-2026 and we look forward to meeting you in one of the upcoming events and courses.
Best regards,
Bayu Jayawardhana, scientific director DISC
Maaike Kraeger-Holland, office manager DISC
We proudly present our DISC course programme for the new academic year 2025-2026! We offer a new set of 9 interesting courses in the Fall, Winter and Spring trimester.
You can find the DISC course programme and registration information on our website
* 2025-2026 DISC course program – DISC
Registration is now open! We look forward to your early registration.
The DISC Board embraced the idea from the Unit DISC members to introduce the DISC Best Teacher Award, next to the yearly DISC Best Thesis Award and the Best Junior Presentation Award (Benelux). The idea is to select one of the lecturers of the DISC courses of the previous year as ‘Best Teacher’, based on evaluations from the participants of the DISC courses of that specific year. Currently, we work on the criteria, and the adjustments of the current course evaluation forms, which will be shared the earliest possible.
The first DISC Best Teacher Award will be presented during the 46th Benelux Meeting in 2026 in the Netherlands for the DISC best teacher in the academic year 2025 – 2026
We thank participants of DISC courses in advance for their input for this DISC Best Teacher Award.
The DISC Winter School will focus on new research directions in the incremental analysis and synthesis of nonlinear systems. The program includes lectures by leading researchers on contraction theory and incremental input-output techniques, team-based challenge problems, and an interactive final session where teams will present their results. Participants will engage with recent theoretical developments and work on real-world case studies with industrial relevance.
The course will be scheduled for early 2026 – More information will be available soon!
Sebastiaan van den Eijnden (TU/e)
Amritam Das (TU/e)
The 45th Benelux Meeting on Systems and Control will take place on March 24–26, 2026 at the Center Parcs De Vossemeren, Lommel in Belgium.
Further details, including registration and abstract submission, will follow in due course.
With best regards,
Julie on behalf of the Benelux Meeting Organizing Committee (Julie, Gianluca, Raphaël & Julien)
UC Louvain
Name: Shengling Shi
Start date: 1 August 2025
Job title: AP
University/department/group: DCSC/TU Delft
E-mail: s.shi-3@tudelft.nl
Introduction: Shengling Shi is an assistant professor at the Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and at TU Delft. He received the Ph.D. degree in 2021 from the Control Systems Group, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He received the M.Sc. degree (with distinction) from TU/e and the B.Sc. degree from the Harbin Institute of Technology, China. His research interests include system identification, artificial intelligence, optimal control, and their applications in healthcare.
Name: Kelvin Toonen
Start date: August 2025
Job title: PhD
University/department/group: DCSC/TU Delft
Project: Control and AI for Physics-Based Human Motion Generation
Introduction:
Hello everyone! I am Kelvin and I will be joining DCSC as a new PhD student. I will be working with Dr. Shengling Shi to create a human digital twin using Generative AI. I did my master’s Data Science & AI at the TU Eindhoven and I plan on using my knowledge in AI to design this digital twin. In my free time I like to go to the gym, watch series and play video games. I also like to learn about history and languages; I am currently trying to learn Swedish! I look forward to getting to know you all as well!”
Name: Ziqi Zhang
Start date: 01.08.2025
Job title: PhD
TUD E-mail: z.zhang-16@tudelft.nl
Section: ME-CoR-Intelligent Vehicles
Supervisor: Holger Caesar
Short introduction text: Hi! I’m Ziqi and will soon start my PhD under the supervision of Prof. Holger, focusing on learning novel view simulators for autonomous driving. Outside of research, I enjoy hiking and watching football, and I like trying out new sports—recently I’ve been into tennis and surfing. Looking forward to fun collaborations or just hanging out sometime!
Name: Marcus Becker (previously PhD at DCSC)
Starting: 1-6-2025
Function: Postdoc
Email: marcus.becker@tudelft.nl
University and Department/Group: TU Delft, ME-DCSC Team Van Wingerden
Supervisor: Prof.dr.ir. Jan-Willem van Wingerden
Project: Future wind farms control
Name: Konstantinos Prattis
Starting: 1-5-2025
Function: PhD
Email: k.prattis@tudelft.nl
University and Department/Group: TU Delft, ME-DCSC Team Laurenti
Supervisor: Dr. Luca Laurenti
Project: Safe Control of Uncertain Systems from Data
Short introduction:
Hello everyone! My name is Konstantinos, and I am excited to have recently joined DCSC as a new PhD candidate. I received my integrated master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where I had the chance to get familiar with various fields, including control theory, robotics and optimization techniques among others. Here at DCSC, my research will focus on the intersection of model predictive control, stochastic systems and machine learning, with an emphasis on providing mathematical guarantees for data-driven methods. As for my out-of-work activities, I mostly enjoy playing sports and travelling — especially when I get the chance to explore new places. I’m looking forward to getting to know all of you!
Name: Iosif Vardakis
Starting: 1-5-2025
Function: PhD
Email: i.vardakis@tudelft.nl
University and Department/Group: TU Delft, ME-DCSC Team Myers
Supervisor: Dr. Nitin Myers
Project: Signal processing for low-power digital radars
Name: Michaela Repášová
Starting Date: 01-09-2025
Function: PhD
Email: m.repasova@rug.nl
Group: Systems, Control and Optimization
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Bart Besselink and Dr. Henk van Waarde
Project: Analysis and control design using dynamic supply rates
Introduction: Hi everyone, my name is Michaela Repášová and I come from Slovakia. I have done both of my Bachelor’s and Master’s studies at the University of Groningen where I will now continue as a PhD student. I will work in the Systems, Control and Optimization group in the Bernoulli Institute under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Bart Besselink and Dr. Henk van Waarde. For my master thesis, I have worked on analysis and synthesis of dissipative systems using data. During my PhD, I will expand on this work by studying dissipativity of systems with dynamic supply rates. I look forward to working on this project and to meeting and collaborating with new colleagues.
In my free time I like to take care of my (many) plants and do various crafts. I also enjoy hiking and skiing.
Name: Anastasios Vlachos
Starting Date: 01-09-2025
Function: PhD
E-mail: a.vlachos@rug.nl
University: University of Groningen
Group: Systems, Control and Optimization (SCO)
Supervisor: Prof. dr. ir. Bart Besselink
Project: Contract-Based Verification for Modular Control System Design
Introduction: Anastasios Vlachos is an incoming PhD student in the Systems, Control and Optimization Group at the University of Groningen, supervised by Bart Besselink. His research will focus on Modular Control System Design using Contract Theory. He holds a Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in Greece and an MSc in Systems and Control from ETH Zurich. His research interests include mathematical systems and control theory, as well as learning-based control.
Maurice Kolff from 01-07-2025 at Intelligent Vehicles
M.J.C.Kolff@tudelft.nl
Position: Postdoc
Supervisor: Barys Shyrokau
Personal note: “Hi! I’m Maurice, and in July I started as a postdoctoral researcher at Intelligent Vehicles.
I’m currently part of a collaborative project with Honda, where I’m working on
optimization-based motion cueing algorithms for driving simulators. In my spare time
I am an avid runner and cyclist, and if the weather allows it, I love being underwater
to Scuba-dive.”
Björn Sygo from 01-07-2025 at Learning Autonomous Control
B.P.Sygo@tudelft.nl
Position: PhD
Supervisor: Javier Alonso-Mora / Joris Sijs
Personal note: “I am one of the PhDs working on the OpenBots project, a cooperation with TNO, the
University of Amsterdam, and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. There, I will focus on task planning
and execution. I did my Bachelor’s and Master’s in Hamburg, Germany. Besides reading, I enjoy playing
video and board games. I’m excited to meet everyone!”
Armin Arvaei from 15-07-2025 at Learning Autonomous Control
S.Avaei@tudelft.nl
Position: Robotics Engineer
Supervisor: Cosimo Della Santina
Personal note: “Hello, I am Armin! I am a robotics engineer who spent the past 3.5 years in the industry
working on laboratory automation and digitalization projects. I decided to make a change to working with
more emerging/early-stage technology, so I am now working on advancing the technical readiness level of
soft robotic manipulators and also looking for service and industrial partners that would be willing to pilot
them. As for hobbies, I love to climb all sorts of vertical surfaces, read fiction books (current favorite is Sum
by David Eagleman), and from time to time mix some music! I am excited to be back at CoR and look
forward to the challenge ahead.”
Andrei-Carlo Papuc from 01-08-2025 at Learning Autonomous Control
A.C.Papuc@tudelft.nl
Position: PhD
Supervisor: Javier Alonso-Mora / Laura Ferranti
Personal note: “Hello everyone! I’m excited to join you all as a new PhD student on the SECURE project.
My work will focus on safe multi-agent reinforcement learning, contributing to the project’s goal of
developing a holistic framework for secure multi-robot cooperation in dynamic environments.
I’m originally from Bucharest, Romania, but I’m no stranger to Delft, having done both my BSc in Aerospace
Engineering and my MSc in Robotics here at TU Delft. When I’m not in the lab, I enjoy working on new
media art installations, petting the goats at the local farm, or doing various sports 🙂
Looking forward to meeting you all!”
Remco Huijsen from 01-07-2025 at Intelligent Vehicles
R.Huijsen@tudelft.nl
Position: PhD
Supervisor: Holger Ceasar / Nitin Myers
Personal note: “Hi, my name is Remco, and I am joining TU Delft as a PhD student working on the topic of
generative models for autonomous vehicle radars. I have a background in robotics and mechatronics. In my
spare time, I like to meet up with friends, cycle, play video games and go to the cinema. Looking forward to
meeting you all!”
Stijn Klevering from 15-09-2025 at Human Robot Interaction
S.Klevering@tudelft.nl Position: PhD
Supervisor: Luka Peternel
Personal note: “Hi! I am Stijn from the Netherlands. I studied biomedical engineering at the TU Delft,
graduated at the cognitive robotics lab and I have already worked 4 years as a product development engineer
for an orthopaedic medical device company. I will be working on understanding the mechanical function and
behavior of the knee through robot-mediated experiments. I love to cook, go to the beach, kitesurf and go for a
run!”
Joseph Adeola from 15-09-2025 at Intelligent Vehicles
J.O.Adeola-1@tudelft.nl Position: PhD
Supervisor: Julian Kooij
Personal note: “I’m Joseph Adeola, who will be working within the Intelligent Vehicles section under the
supervision of Dr. Julian Kooij. My research will focus on acoustic perception for intelligent autonomous
vehicles, specifically developing advanced sound processing algorithms that enable vehicles to better
understand their environment through audio cues. In my free time, I love discovering new cities and immersing
myself in different cultures through travel. I’m also passionate about sharing knowledge and spend time
volunteering as a Bible teacher at my church, and I enjoy experimenting with flavors in the kitchen, especially
when recreating the bold, authentic tastes of traditional Nigerian cuisine that remind me of home”.
Matthijs van Andel from 15-09-2025 at Intelligent Vehicles
M.P.vanAndel@tudelft.nl
Position: RA
Supervisor: Dariu Gavrila
Personal note: “Hi, my name is Matthijs and I completed my masters in Robotics this year under the
supervision of Dariu and now I recently joined the Intelligent Vehicles group as a research assistant. My work
focuses on the ECP dataset, with the goal of making it broadly usable for a wide range of research in
automated vehicle applications. Outside of work, I enjoy playing hockey, and I also really enjoy watching sports
(primarily football) with friends
Name: Vito Daniele Perfetta
Start date: 15/09/2025
Job title: PhD
TUD E-mail: V.D.Perfetta@tudelft.nl
Section: Learning and Autonomous Control
Supervisor: Dr. Cosimo Della Santina
Short introduction:
I recently joined the Cognitive Robotics (CoR) group, where my research will focus on the control of soft robots. I am enthusiastic about contributing to this exciting field and collaborating with the team. Outside of work, I enjoy reading, watching good films, and spending time outdoors hiking and exploring new places. Looking forward to giving my contribution and enjoying this journey!
Candidate: Prosper Oyibo
University and Department/Group: TU Delft ME-DCSC
Thesis title: Automated Digital Microscope for Detection of Schistosomiasis and Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infection
Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. G. Vdovin, Prof.dr.ir. J.C. Diehl, Prof.dr. W.A. Oyibo
Date: 2-9-2025
Location: TU Delft, Aula Senaatszaal
Time: 10.00 AM
Candidate: Claudia Muscari
University and Department/Group: TU Delft ME-DCSC
Thesis title:
Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. J.W. van Wingerden, Prof.dr.ir. A.C. Viré, Prof.dr.ir. A. Zasso
Date: 6-10-2025
Location: TU Delft, Aula Senaatszaal
Time: 10.00 AM
Candidate: David Fidalgo Domingos
University and Department/Group: TU Delft ME-DCSC
Thesis title:
Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. J.W. van Wingerden, dr.ir. P.R. Wellens
Date: 16-10-2025
Location: TU Delft, Aula Senaatszaal
Time: 03.00 PM
Candidate: Amr Hegazy
University and Department/Group: TU Delft ME-DCSC
Thesis title:
Promotor: Prof.dr.ir. J.W. van Wingerden
Date: 29-10-2025
Location: TU Delft, Aula Senaatszaal
Time: 10.00 AM
Candidate: Max van Haren
University and Department/Group: TU/e, Group Oomen
Thesis title: Multirate Identification and Motion Control
Promotor: Prof. T.A.E. Oomen
Date: 3 September 2025
Location: Atlas 0.710
Time: 16 hrs
Candidate: Max van Meer
University and Department/Group: TU/e, Group Oomen
Thesis title: Data-Driven Calibration and Control of Low-Cost Actuators and Sensors
Promotor: Prof. T.A.E. Oomen
Date: 9 September 2025
Location: Atlas 0.710
Time: 13.30 hrs
Candidate: M.G. Vlaswinkel
University and Department/Group: TU/e, Group Hofman
Thesis title: Automated Risk-Aware Calibration of Internal Combustion Engines
Promotor: Prof. F.P.T. Willems
Date: 11 September 2025
Location: Atlas 0.710
Time: 13.30 hrs
Candidate: Merlijne Geurts
University and Department/Group: CST/group Heemels
Thesis title: Safe Automated Lane Merging in Mixed Traffic by using Model Predictive Control
Promotor: Prof. W.P.M.H. Heemels
Date: 9 October 2025
Location: TUE, Atlas 0.710
Time: 11:00h
Candidate: Ir. C. Hanselaar
University and Department/Group: CST/group Heemels
Thesis title: – The Safety Shell – Redundant Heterogeneous Multi-Channel Architecture Considerations for Automated Driving Vehicles
Safe Automated Lane Merging in Mixed Traffic by using Model Predictive Control
Promotor: Prof. W.P.M.H. Heemels
Date: 25 November 2025
Location: TUE, Atlas 0.710
Time: 13:30h
You can now register to the following course of the Graduate School in Systems, Optimization, Control and Networks (SOCN).
The course will start on October 7, 2025
Title: Stochastic variance-reduced optimization algorhitms and application to federated learning
Lecturer: Laurent Condat, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia
Dates: 7, 8, 9 October 2025 at UC Louvain (B)
Registration is open via On-line form
Best regards,
UC Louvain, Pascale Premereur
___________________
8th Workshop of the Franco-German Doctoral College on Port-Hamiltonian Systems: Modeling, Numerics, and Control
📅 21–23 October 2025
This workshop brings together PhD students and researchers working on structured, energy-based methods for modeling, numerical approximation, and control of multiphysical systems.
The workshop is open to all interested participants, including those not affiliated with the doctoral college (e.g., DISC members).
Arjan van der Schaft’s 70th Birthday Workshop
📅 23–24 October 2025
Immediately following the doctoral college workshop, we will celebrate Arjan van der Schaft’s 70th birthday with a dedicated workshop featuring invited speakers. Everyone is warmly invited to join.
🔗 More information, including program and registration details for both workshops, can be found on the event website:
https://www.math.rug.nl/~besselink/phworkshop.html
If you are attending the next IEEE CDC, and you have research interests in Game Theory / Model Predictive Control / Reinforcement Learning, then you might consider attending the pre-conference workshop “Game Theory Meets MPC: Advances in Multi-Agent Control” [https://nccr-automation.ch/events/2025/game-theory-mpc-cdc25].
______________________________
Dear colleagues,
We are glad to announce that we will be organizing a workshop at IEEE CDC 2025 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Secure and Resilient Control of Distributed and Large-Scale Systems. The workshop will cover recent advances and open challenges on resiliency and security for complex, large-scale systems, including theoretical topics in encrypted control and secure and resilient learning, with selected applications such as multi-robot systems and offshore wind energy.
To make the content more accessible to non-experts, we will also feature an introductory talk on security and resiliency.
If you believe this workshop could be of interest to you, your group members, and colleagues, we would be grateful if you could share the information.
More information is available in the website: https://sites.google.com/view/cdc25-workshop-sec-res-control/home
Thank you, and we look forward to your participation! Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions.
Best regards,
Riccardo Ferrari, on behalf of Luca Ballotta, Alex Gallo, and Ivo van Straalen and Bart Wolleswinkel
_____________________________
The need for innovation in Offshore Wind Energy
Join us on 11 November 2025 for a conference dedicated to the past, present and future of offshore wind. During this full-day event, leading experts, innovators, policymakers and industry partners will explore wind energy’s past achievements, present challenges, and the innovations crucial for future upscaling. With ambitions of 70 GW for the Netherlands and 260 GW across the North Sea by 2050, delivering cutting-edge solutions is more critical than ever.
Preliminary program
Join us for a day of inspiration, debate, and networking — and be part of shaping the future of Offshore Wind. Throughout the programme, several ambassadors share their views on the session topics in relation to broader themes, including ecology, cybersecurity, the required innovation ecosystem, and more.
Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, learn and lead. Visit the event website for more information.
🎫 Early bird tickets are available until 15 September for just €75 – get yours now!
We are looking forward to seeing you on 11 November.
Kind regards, TU Delft Wind Energy Institute and GROW
____________________
Invitation to submit to the Open Invited Track for the IFAC World Congress 2026 on
“Resilient Cyber-Physical-Human Systems”
Overview
Cyber-physical-human systems (CPHS) form the backbone of modern infrastructure, from power grids and transportation networks to advanced robotics, healthcare systems, and manufacturing facilities. Their tightly coupled cyber, physical, and human components introduce new challenges in ensuring reliable, secure, and trustworthy operation. This open invited track offers leading experts working in the area of CPHS resilience and control the opportunity to present their latest research findings and methodologies.
Topics of interest
This track invites scientists, engineers, and stakeholders from government, industry, and academia to contribute theoretical and applied research papers. The topics of interest include (but are not limited to):
This track aims to create a platform between practitioners and control theorists to share knowledge and insights on the modeling and design of next-generation high-confidence CPHS that are secure and resilient to evolving cyber threats.
Submission
For author guidelines, please refer to the IFAC 2026 website https://ifac2026.org. All papers must be submitted electronically at https://ifac.papercept.net/. All papers must be prepared in a two-column format in accordance with the IFAC manuscript style. Please use the official IFAC instructions and template to prepare your contribution as a full-length draft paper and submit it online. Submission details are available on the conference website.
All submissions must be written in English. All papers that conform to submission guidelines will be peer-reviewed by IPC members.
The corresponding authors need to submit their paper online (in pdf format) as Open Invited Track Paper using the code: 89j17
Important deadlines
Regards,
Michelle Chong
Daniel Quevedo
Hideaki Ishii
Quanyan Zhu
Unit DISC is the council of research students of DISC. They are in regular contact with the DISC office and have a meeting with the Scientific Director at least twice a year. They are also responsible for the course evaluations. Further, feedback and introducing new ideas from Unit DISC members (like the Best Teacher Award) is stimulated and highly appreciated.
Currently, Amir Shakouri (RUG), Raphaël Goetz (TU/e) Mohaddese Hazini (UT) are Unit DISC members. As they will finish their PhD in the upcoming academic year, we are looking for 4 new members who can take over their valuable role for a certain period of time.
If you are interested and if you have some years to go before finishing your PhD, please feel most welcome to contact one of the current Unit DISC members, or the DISC office, for more information.
Amir Shakouri (RUG) a.shakouri@rug.nl
Raphaël Goetz (TU/e) r.p.p.f.goetz@tue.nl
Mohaddese Hazini (UT) m.hazini@utwente.nl
DISC office – Maaike Kraeger- Holland
secr-disc-me@tudelft.nl
We look forward to hearing from you!
New book on data-driven control
We have recently published a book titled “Data-Based Linear Systems and Control Theory”. With this book we aim to provide a comprehensive framework for data-driven system analysis, control design and modeling. You can download a free PDF copy at the link:
https://henkvanwaarde.github.io/dblsct.html
or purchase a paperback/hardcover version from Amazon.
Best regards,
Henk van Waarde, Kanat Camlibel and Harry Trentelman
