Sharon Smit was Director Sustainable Society at University of Groningen from 2012-2018. Before that she worked at several governmental organisations in the field of Strategy and Policy Development. Both on a personal and professional level she is highly interested in building bridges and connections between people and between organisations. She is convinced that the role of academia is changing and develops models and methods for science to have (more) societal impact. Sharon is a special adviser of the ACCOMPLISSH project and strategic coordinator of the PERSON platform and Earthquake Centre.