prof. dr. ir. Ionica Smeets

About Ionica Smeets

Ionica Smeets is a professor of science communication at Leiden University, where she studies, teaches, and practices science communication. In 2023, Ionica Smeets received the Iris Award for Excellent Science Communication for her work, and in 2024 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Open University. She is the chair of the board of the National Expertise Center for Science & Society (NEWS), which improves the connection between science and society through better science communication.

Facts and figures cannot exist without stories.

Smeets studied mathematics at TU Delft, graduating cum laude. She then earned her PhD in number theory at Leiden University. For over fifteen years, she has written columns about numbers for the Volkskrant and collaborates with Ype Driessen on comic strips for New Scientist and Skepsis. Ionica Smeets has also created and presented popular science TV programs such as Eureka and the National Science Quiz and has appeared on shows like Zomergasten, De Slimste Mens, and De Avondshow with Arjen Lubach.

Together with Edward van de Vendel and Floor de Goede, she wrote the children’s book Rekenen voor je leven, which has won various awards and has been translated into (among others) Korean, Spanish, and German. However, her children are more impressed that Donald Duck published a comic strip based on her, called Pionica Smeets.

Ionica Smeets has been giving lectures for many years through Speakers Academy and speaks with equal ease and enjoyment to an audience of 50 or 5000 people. Her lectures are always tailored, featuring current examples and interaction with the audience.