Frans C.T. van der Helm was born in the Netherlands in 1960. He completed an MSc in Human Movement Science in Amsterdam in 1985 and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Delft in 1991. Currently he is a full professor in Biomechatronics and Bio-robotics at Delft University of Technology (80%) and at Twente University (20%). His research interests are musculoskeletal modeling of the upper and lower extremities, eye and pelvic floor musculature, muscle modeling, morphological measurements, human motion control models and experiments, i.e. recordings of proprioceptive reflexes in patients with neurological disorders, neuro-rehabilitation robotics, bi-pedal walking robots, and haptic interfaces.

He says: “I became a member of the ISB in 1987, and attended almost all of the ISB conferences since then. We started the International Shoulder Group (ISG), which is currently a technical group of the ISB. I am a board member of the ISG, and also of the Technical Group on Computer Simulation (TGCS). In my opinion, the ISB should focus on a few main goals, i.e., offering opportunities to young scientists to participate in the international network of biomechanics, and increasing the scientific level of the field of Biomechanics. The ISB should use its network e.g., to enable M.Sc. and Ph.D. students to get traineeships at well-known laboratories, organizing small meetings and summer courses where young scientists can discuss with more experienced scientists. An important and continuous task for an international scientific organization is to define standards and means for reporting data and the exchange of data.”

For more information see http://mms.tudelft.nl/staff/vanderhelm/main.htm