Short biography Dr.h.c.Ir. Jos (H.J.M) Beurskens Jos Beurskens headed the Renewable Energy and Wind Energy Units of the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) from 1989 to 2005 and was a scientific advisor at ECN from 2005 to 2012. He was the scientific director of he Netherlands’ first offshore wind energy R&D programme “We@Sea”, which ran from 2004 to 2010. At present he has his own consultancy and is a formal guest scientist at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. Throughout his career, Mr. Beurskens has been extensively involved with various industry associations dealing with renewable energy. He was a founding member of the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), on the Board of which he served for more than 15 years. He was one of the founders of the International Meeting of Test Stations (IMTS), the European Academy of Wind Energy (EAWE) and the European Renewable Energy Centres Agency (EUREC). He has chaired the Executive Committee of the Wind Energy programme of the International Energy Association (IEA) and has been retained as an advisor to the European Commission and several national governments on R&D programmes in the field of wind energy. At present he is chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of ForWind (joint wind energy research institute of the universities of Oldenburg, Bremen and Hannover, Germany) and a member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg, Delmenhorst, Germany. Beurskens served on the Steering Committee of the European Wind Energy Technology Platform and was chairman of WG Wind Power Systems. Jos Beurskens received the honour of Wind Energy Pioneer of the British Wind Energy Association in 1995. In 2008 he was awarded with the Poul la Cour’s prize, which was presented to him by Mr. Janez Potočnik, EU Commissioner for Science and Research. In November 2009 Mr. Beurskens received the Honorary Doctor’s Degree at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, for his work on initiating European research in the field of wind energy. As a co-author Jos Beurskens contributed to several books.