Full name:                               Freerk Pepping

Place and date of birth:         Gieten (The Netherlands), 24 July 1953

Marital status:                         Married with Ria Groeneweg, 3 children

 

 

Education:

 

 

1972 ? 1980  MSc Human Nutrition at Wageningen University

1981 ? 1983  Research assistant with Prof. J.G.A.J. Hautvast at the Department of Human Nutrition at Wageningen University

1983 ? 1987   PhD study at the same department in collaboration with the Tanzania Food and Nutrition centre (TFNC, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania); title of the PhD thesis ?Xerophthalmia and post-measles eye lesions in children in Tanzania?.

 

 

Employment record:

 

 

 

1981 ? 1987    Wageningen University; Department of Human Nutrition, during this period four years were spent in Tanzania

1988 ? 1993    Wageningen University; Office for International Relations, project officer responsible for international education and research projects in Indonesia, Benin, Mozambique, Vietnam and Kenya. During this period a large number of new international projects were initiated in a.o. Turkey, Iran, Thailand, Vietnam, Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. All these projects had capacity development as their main focus. As consultant for the Medical Committee Netherlands ? Vietnam (MCNV) three six weeks visits were made to Vietnam to train local staff in vitamin A programme management (1992-1994).

1994 ? now  Managing director of the Graduate School VLAG, see www.vlaggraduateschool.nl.

Responsible for the two main tasks of a graduate school within the Dutch academic system;

-           organisation of the education activities for PhD-students and,

-           initiating new research projects.

All education activities for the PhD students (approx. 15 courses per year) are in English and open for non-VLAG PhD students also. Since 1996 VLAG attracts with its courses considerable participation form all over Europe. The total number of PhD students registered with the Graduate School grew to approx. 350 with 60 ? 80 graduations per year.

Since January 2000 involved in the UNU- Food & Nutrition Programme as regional coordinator for Europe and coordinator of the activities initiated by UNU and IUNS since 2000 in Africa in the area of capacity development.

During a sabbatical period at the Medical Research Council in Cape Town in 2001 a proposal was written for the African Nutrition Leadership Programme (ANLP, see www.africanutritionleadership. org). This programme is in operation since 2002. Potchefstroom University (South Africa) and Graduate School VLAG execute ANLP.

Since 2003 involved as Network Manager in the European Nutrigenomics Organisation, see www.nugo.org. For this initiative, with 22 partners from