As Dean of Research Visser will be responsible for executing the PhD policy of the university and ensuring high quality of PhD research performed at the six graduate schools of the University. With the appointment of Visser also the title of his function will change. Van Arendonk was called Dean of Science, Visser will henceforth be called Dean of Research.
The Dean is a part time function, in addition he will carry on leading the Plant Breeding group that consists of plant breeding research of the university and DLO. Visser (1957) has more than 400 scientific publications in his name.
The current Dean, professor Johan van Arendonk, will leave at the start of next year to join the breeding business Hendrix Genetics.