Anja Palmans studied chemical engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and received her master’s degree in 1992. She did a PhD in the group of Prof. Bert Meijer where she obtained her doctorate in 1997 with the thesis ‘Supramolecular structures based on the intramolecular H-bonding in acylated 3,3’-diamino-2,2’-bipyridines’. In 1998 and 1999 she was a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Paul Smith at ETH Zürich (Switzerland), after which she started working at DSM Research (Geleen, The Netherlands). In 2002 she returned to the TU/e as an NRSC-C Fellow at the Laboratory for Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry where she became assistant professor in 2005 and associate professor in 2010. Since 2019 she is full professor in the fascinating field of Supramolecular Chemistry and Catalysis. Her hobbies are travelling to remote places, and walking in nature.