Ionica Smeets, PhD, is a full professor of Science Communication at Leiden University, science journalist and columnist for the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant and presenter on Dutch television.

After obtaining a PhD in Pure Mathematics, her career followed an atypical path. Because her interest was in improving the communication of science, she decided to do so from within academia and thus returned to academia in 2015. Her research group studies the foundations of science communication, languages and forms of scientific dissemination, with the aim of improving the communication and understanding of scientific issues by the non-specialist public and in this way improving the interaction between science and society.

She is a member of the Supervisory Board of the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, the Science museum of the city of Leiden, and was the head of the jury for the Libris Literature Prize in 2020. Together with Alex Verkade, Ionica created an action plan for The National Centre of Expertise on Science & Society of the Netherlands in 2023.