Eppo Bruins

Eppo Egbert Willem Bruins (born 19 September 1969) is a Dutch politician and physicist. He has been serving as Minister of Education, Culture and Science in the Schoof cabinet since July 2024 on behalf of New Social Contract (NSC). He was a member of the House of Representatives for the Christian Union (CU) from 2015 to 2021.

Prior to his service in Parliament, Bruins was director of the from 2007 until 2015. Since 2022, he has chaired the (AWTI).

Early life and education
Bruins was born on 19 September 1969 in Apeldoorn, Gelderland. He attended high school at the preparatory scientific education level at the Myrtus College in his hometown between 1982 and 1987.

Bruins subsequently went to Utrecht University, where he graduated with a Master of Science (MSc) degree in physics in 1991. He played the piano at a conservatoire, but he never earned a diploma.

Afterwards, he became a doctoral researcher at the (Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter, FOM) for four years. In 1995, he obtained his PhD degree in mathematics and physics from Utrecht University with a thesis entitled The magnetic form factor of the neutron.

Career
Bruins later lived in the United States, where he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1995 to 1997. He then returned to the Netherlands, where he was a project coordinator at his former training institute FOM between 1997 and 2004, as well as subsequently director of the Leiden Institute of Physics of the Leiden University from 2004 to 2007, before his time as director of the FOM between 2007 and 2015.

Politics
Bruins was a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), but switched over to the socially more conservative Christian Union in 2011. Bruins served as editor-in-chief of the magazine of Christian Union's scientific institute.

In the parliamentary election of 2012, Bruins was placed as number six on the Christian Union list but was not elected. On 2 December 2015, he became member of the House of Representatives, when he replaced former party leader Arie Slob who had resigned as a parliamentarian. He was his party's spokesperson for matters including education, media, and aviation. In the parliamentary election of 2021, he was placed seventh on the party list, failing to win re-election. He later became chairperson of the Advisory Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (AWTI). In 2023, following the resignation of then party leader Gert-Jan Segers as a parliamentarian, a seat in Parliament was proposed to Bruins, who declined to return. The seat went to Nico Drost instead.

After the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB formed the Schoof cabinet, Bruins was sworn in as Minister of Education, Culture and Science on 2 July 2024, succeeding Robbert Dijkgraaf. Bruins serves on behalf of NSC, and he canceled his membership of the Christian Union. Party leader Mirjam Bikker (CU) disapproved of Bruins's nomination.

Personal life
Bruins became religious at age 18. He first belonged to the Reformed Association in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands and later became a Baptist. Bruins is the second Baptist member of the House of Representatives, preceded by. An evangelist, he is involved in the Christian Hadderech movement, which focuses on missionary work among Jews.