UNIC's Expert Voices: Dr Kees Krul at Malmö University's PhD Summer School

In the summer of 2025, Erasmus University Rotterdam academic Dr Kees Krul traveled to Malmö through the UNIC Expert Voices Fund to share his work on inclusive prosperity. We caught up with him after his trip to find out more. Edited excerpts: 

Where did the UNIC Expert Voices Fund take you?

Earlier this Summer I attended the “PhD Summer School: Space Applications and Global Sustainable Development” at Malmö University (Sweden). My participation was made possible by the UNIC Expert Voices Fund. I joined as a participatory observer as we anticipate to make this Summer School a UNIC course next year so that doctoral students from EUR and other UNIC-universities can take part. I also contributed to the programme with a presentation on my current project, de Brede Welkaart (the Broad Prosperity Map), which shows how we can use large language models (LLMs) to map inclusive prosperity at the local level.

What were some opportunities that this forum opened up?

 I joined the labs with speakers and practitioners from the United Nations (UN) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Under the excellent guidance of Prof. Magnus Andersson, the week refreshed my skills in remote sensing and spatiotemporal analysis, and I believe the Summer School can benefit our doctoral students at EUR. For instance, remote sensing can be used to measure carbon emissions that factories pollute, or help explain crime rates in certain neighbourhoods.

Without the UNIC Expert Voices Fund, it would have been difficult to travel to Malmö and dedicate several days to both contribute to and critically evaluate the course. The support enabled EUR/UNIC representation and made it possible to test the fit for a UNIC-branded edition next summer. After the Summer we will be in touch with the Malmö team to outline next steps and hopefully we can welcome a EUR cohort in the next iteration of the course!

If you're interested in applying for the UNIC Expert Voices Fund, please get in touch with the local UNIC office at your university!