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Research School for Socio-Economic and
Natural Sciences of the Environment |
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Newsletter June
28 May 2015 |
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Vidi grants for SENSE researchers Wouter Botzen (VU) and Gert-Jan Steeneveld (WU) ›› |
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Transpiring plants in a changing climate ›› |
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€650.000 for SENSE researchers Bart Koelmans (WU) and Annemarie van Wezel (UU) for large-scale study of Dutch "plastic soup" ›› |
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Request for your input: Questionnaire health and environment, Health Council of the Netherlands ›› |
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Overview of PhD graduations upcoming month ›› |
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REMINDER: International Summer School Sustainable city region food and agriculture system, 21-25 June ›› |
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Overview of PhD / postdoc courses June-August ›› |
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Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses ›› |
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Ecology Theory & Application Discussion Group meeting, 10 June, Wageningen ›› |
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Reading group Environmental Economics, Amsterdam ›› |
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Research seminar Earth System Governance: Environmental Governance Through Partnerships: A Discourse Theoretical Study, 25 June, Amsterdam ›› |
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Wageningen Evolution and Ecology Seminars (WEES) - Michael Begon: "Infectious diseases: from wild rodents to universal truths", 25 June, Wageningen ›› |
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SENSE Summer Symposium 2015, 18 June: "Make a change! - Successful interaction with society" ›› |
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2nd SENSE Sports Day: Beach volleyball tournament, 4 July ›› |
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SENSE Symposium: "Hazard, Risk and Sustainability in the Soil Environment" (HRSSE), 14 October, Wageningen ›› |
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Overview of upcoming events ›› |
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SENSE MSc Honours Programme 2015/2016, deadline 16 June 2015 ›› |
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De Onderzoeksredactie zoekt deelnemers Teaching Lab, deadline 31 May ›› |
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Post-Doctoral Position "An industrial ecology approach to implementation of pyrolysis bioenergy at a regional scale", University of Waterloo, Canada, deadline 1 June ›› |
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PhD fellowship Assessment of ecosystem services and ecological integrity of coastal lagoon ecosystems in the context of ecological restoration, France, deadline 13 June ›› |
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Post-doctoral position: Modeling of a microalgae refining process for life cycle environmental assessment, Université de Nantes, France, deadline 25 June ›› |
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| Editorial |
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| About 8 months into my new role as general director of SENSE, I’m starting to feel more at home in SENSE and appreciating all that SENSE has to offer – to both PhD students and researchers – more and more. I’m impressed by the professionalism and dedication of the SENSE staff, and I’m thrilled to be more in contact with young PhDs from various disciplines. Some of my highlights of the past months include participating in the SENSE course “Grasping Sustainability” within the MSc Honours Programme, coaching an MSc student in this programme in writing an excellent PhD proposal, as well as evaluating the next round of talented candidates. Of course, chairing our energetic and productive strategy meeting on April 21 was another highlight of my “inaugural” year.
To all our researchers in SENSE – let me take this opportunity to remind you of the SENSE Honours Programme, a unique opportunity for your excellent MSc students to follow a “research master track.” This track prepares MSc students for an academic research career by writing a full PhD research proposal on a subject of their own choice within the field of “Environmental and Sustainability Sciences”. Though a PhD position is not guaranteed, the experience of writing a full proposal reviewed by experts, under the guidance of experienced teachers, is not only useful for the student, but a golden opportunity for the supervisor of the student. In my case, the proposal written by my own student Vica Kopylova has been submitted to ZonMW, and if that doesn’t work out, is ready to go to NWO Open. A win-win for student and researcher, I would say. It is still possible to nominate candidates for the Honours programme until June 16. For more information, please contact Monique Gulickx, email Monique.qulickx@sense.nl.
A few words about the SENSE Strategy meeting “Towards added value for all SENSE participants” on April 21, 2015. Attended by about 30 researchers and PhD students from almost all of the 11 participating SENSE institutes, the meeting put to rest some of the main myths and misunderstandings about SENSE, emphasizing that SENSE strives for a custom-made programme designed to fit the training needs of each of its unique students without burdening the student with unnecessary courses or administration. Importantly, participants identified concrete actions to be taken to improve SENSE in the coming years, for example in the areas of better PhD training, increasing our visibility and network, as well as societal impact of SENSE research. Rather than resulting in a strategy document that may end up in a dusty drawer somewhere, the SENSE staff conglomerated these actions into an action plan, and is dedicated to following up on them and providing regular progress reports. To all of you who pledged to take on an action, be it to contact major funding agencies to discuss interdisciplinary research opportunities, to develop joint activities on capacity building in developing countries or e-learning, or organize regular meetings of the local PhD councils, please get started, and we will track your progress and facilitate wherever possible. The strategy meeting ended with a renewed sense of commitment of all partners to this dynamic research school. I know I sure am looking forward to the next 5 years!
Juliette Legler
SENSE General Director
And of course, we are looking forward to see you all on the SENSE Summer Symposium of 18 June. Details and registration at www.sense.nl/summer-symposium-2015
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| SENSE News |
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| Vidi grants for SENSE researchers Wouter Botzen (VU) and Gert-Jan Steeneveld (WU) |
| SENSE members Wouter Botzen (Environmental Economics, VU) and Gert-Jan Steeneveld , (Meteorology and Air Quality, WUR) both received an NWO Vidi grant for their proposed research on "Verzekeringsprikkels voor bescherming tegen overstromingen" and "Wind in cities" respectively. |
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| Transpiring plants in a changing climate |
 Climate researcher and SENSE postdoc Hugo de Boer (Utrecht University) studies how photosynthesis and the transpiration of plants can change under the influence of an ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. As changes can take a long time to be visible, they are difficult to investigate. In the video portrait below De Boer explains how he deals with this problem.
Watch the video ›› |
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| €650.000 for SENSE researchers Bart Koelmans (WU) and Annemarie van Wezel (UU) for large-scale study of Dutch "plastic soup" |
| A team with SENSE scientists Bart Koelman (WU) and Annemarie van Wezel (UU) received €650.00 for a new research project to map the level of microplastic pollution in Dutch inland waterways. The team plans to develop new methods for furthering our knowledge about plastics pollution. |
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| Request for your input: Questionnaire health and environment, Health Council of the Netherlands |
Trends in your field, in technology, in the climate or in a wider societal sphere can affect our living environment, and may thus have an indirect impact on our health. The Health Council wants to identify these potential impacts on health in advance. The objective of this questionnaire is to obtain a list of specific topics from a broad network. For this reason, we are asking experts from a wide range of disciplines to fill in this questionnaire.
We are asking you to consider possible topics. A topic is a development in the living environment that might in the future (for example, 10, 20 or 30 years from now) lead to adverse or beneficial impacts on public health. This development in the living environment could be autonomous, or it could be the result of trends in your field, in technology, in the climate or in a wider societal sphere. We are particularly on the lookout for developments that are still ‘on the horizon’, rather than topics that are already well understood or that are already a focus of attention.
Help the Health Council of the Netherlands by completing a short questionnaire! In your opinion, how is our living environment going to change in the future and what potential impacts on health will this involve? We’re keen to hear about your ideas! The Health Council provides the government with scientific advice to support policy-making in the area of health. The Council would also appreciate any input from those who are not working in this field. On behalf of the Vice-President of the Health Council, Prof. J.L. Severens, we would like to express our sincere thanks for your assistance. We would very much appreciate it if you could forward this questionnaire to others in your network. If you have any questions, please contact Dr P.W. van Vliet (E: pw.van.vliet@gr.nl) or Ms L.C. Vermeulen MSc (E: lc.vermeulen@gr.nl) at the Health Council’s Secretariat.
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| Upcoming PhD Graduations |
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| Overview of PhD graduations upcoming month |
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Omotayo Adeboye
Sustainable use of land and water under rainfed and deficit irrigation conditions in Ogun-Osun River Basin, Nigeria
28 May 2015, UNESCO Institute for Water Education, Land and Water Development and Wageningen University
- Erkai He
Incorporating toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics in metal bioavailability models using Enchytraeus crypticus
1 June 2015, VU University Amsterdam, Animal Ecology
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Jeisson Leonardo Reyes Acosta
Tree-water interactions at varying spatiotemporal scales in water limited environments
3 June 2015, University of Twente, Water Resources
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Wijb Sommer
Modelling and monitoring of Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage. Impacts of heterogeneity, thermal interference and bioremediation
4 June 2015, Wageningen University, Environmental Technology
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Ivar van der Velde
Studying biosphere-atmosphere exchange of CO2 through Carbon-13 stable isotopes
5 June 2015, Wageningen University, Meteorology and Air Quality
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Santiago Alvarez Fernandez
Rhyme and Reason: Plankton changes in the North Sea Ecosystem
8 June 2015, Wageningen University, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality
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Pieter Pauw
Field and Model Investigations of Freshwater Lenses in Coastal Aquifers
8 June 2015, Wageningen University, Soil Physics and Land Management
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Mohd Shahrizal Bin Ab Razak
Natural headland sand bypassing: Towards identifying and modelling the mechanisms and processes
9 June 2015, UNESCO-IHE Coastal Systems and Engineering and Port Development, and Delft University of Technology
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Matthias Schröter
Conceptual basis and spatial modelling to account for and conserve multiple ecosystem services in Telemark County, Norway
10 June 2015, Wageningen University, Environmental Systems Analysis
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Fei Liu
Advancing CapMix for Electricity Generation - System operation, cell design and material selection
10 June 2015, Wageningen University, Environmental Technology
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Berhanu Kefale Alemie
Urban cadastre for urban land governance: a socio-technical analysis
17 June 2015, University of Twente, Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-information Management
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Patricia Maria Trambauer Arechavaleta
Hydrological drought forecasting at different spatial and temporal scales
23 June 2015, UNESCO-IHE, Hydrology and Water Resources
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Tessa Eikelboom
Interactive geodesign tools to support regional adaptation planning
24 June 2015, VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Spatial Analysis and Decision Support
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Raul Pablo Andrada de Palomera
Spectral characterization of hydrothermal alterations associated with epithermal deposits in the Deseado Massif, Southern Argentina
1 July 2015, University of Twente, Earth Systems Analysis
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Sudan Xu
Classification and change detection in multi-epoch airborne laser scanning point clouds
1 July 2015, University of Twente, Earth Observation Science
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Jennifer Lenhart
Urban Climate Governance: The Role of Local Authorities
2 July 2015, Wageningen University, Environmental Policy
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Justin Dijk
On the efficiency and effectiveness of policy instruments in the procurement of ecosystem services
2 July 2015, VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Environmental Economics
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Lan Song
Towards understanding the toxicity of copper nanoparticles in aquatic ecosystems
2 July 2015, Leiden University, Conservation Biology
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| Upcoming Courses |
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| REMINDER: International Summer School Sustainable city region food and agriculture system, 21-25 June 2015 |
Urban agriculture - hype or trend?
Urban agriculture is a novel concept, that is part of broader discussions about local self-sufficiency. Urban agriculture covers a wide range of bottom-up initiatives that aim to restore direct contact between food producers and consumers. A special example is food production by and for citizen groups.
What does urban agriculture mean? How does it fit in a worldwide growth in urban population? What results can we expect? And -last but not least- what can it contribute to citizen participation and community building?
These topics are extensively discussed in the International Summer School ‘’Sustainable City region - Food and agriculture systems’’, 21-15 June 2015 in Reims (France). A co-production of Reims’ University IRCS (International Research Center on Sustainability) and SENSE. The four-days program, with interactive lectures and parallel workshops, is aimed at mutual learning by the international audience of PhD students and post-docs.
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| Overview of PhD / postdoc courses June-August |
- Linear Models
8-10 June 2015, Wageningen
- Advanced Course on Environmental Biotechnology
9-19 June 2015, Delft
- PCDI course Employability Outside Academia (NEW)
10 June, 7 July and 1 September 2015, Utrecht
- WASS Summer School: Governing Landscape Restoration: Governance, Restoration, Privatization (NEW)
14-19 June 2015, Wageningen
- Introduction to Individual Based Models in Ecology Using NetLogo
15-19 June 2015, Barcelona, Spain
- Generalized Linear Models
15-16 June 2015, Wageningen
- The Economics of Bioenergy Policies - A Hands-on Modelling Course
20-22 June 2015, Italy
- International Summer School Sustainable city region food and agriculture system
21-25 June 2015, France
- Alpine Summer School Course XXIII. Land-Atmosphere Interactions: coupling between the energy, water and carbon cycles
21 June - 2 July 2015, Italy
- BioBusiness Summer School - Jumpstart your Business Career in Life Sciences (NEW)
22-26 June 2015, Amsterdam
- Advanced LCA – consequential modelling, EIO LCA, iLUC, and Social LCA
22-26 June 2015, Denmark
- European Summer School on Electrochemistry 2015 (ESSEE2015)
22-26 June 2015, Leeuwarden
- Mixed Linear Models
22-23 June 2015, Wageningen
- Meta-Analysis
25-26 June 2015, Wageningen
- Speciation and Bioavailability of Metals, Organics and Nanoparticles
29 June - 3 July 2015
- Summer Course: Animal Movement Analysis
5-10 July 2015, Amsterdam
- Summer Academy on Economic Growth and Governance of Natural Resources (co-organised with SENSE)
20 July - 1 August 2015, Russia
- iDiv Summer School 2015: “Biodiversity Synthesis”
23-29 August 2015
- International PhD course Modeling Climate Effects on Crops and Cropping Systems
24-30 August 2015, Denmark
- Online Course on Environmental Management in Europe (NEW)
26 August 2015 - 31 January 2016, online
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| Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses |
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| Discussion Groups |
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| Ecology Theory & Application Discussion Group meeting, 10 June, Wageningen |
| The Ecological Theory & Application Discussion Group organises two-monthly meetings for PhD students with a broad interest in ecology. Each meeting is organised around a central ecological theme, such as distribution patterns, climate change, ecophysiology, trophic interactions, etc. |
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| Reading group Environmental Economics, Amsterdam |
The Ecological Theory & Application Discussion Group organises two-monthly meetings for PhD students with a broad interest in ecology. Each meeting is organised around a central ecological theme, such as distribution patterns, climate change, ecophysiology, trophic interactions, etc.
We meet every seond week in Amsterdam, at Wednesdays from 13-14h.
For our reading list, see SENSE website. |
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| Research seminar Earth System Governance: Environmental Governance Through Partnerships: A Discourse Theoretical Study, 25 June, Amsterdam |
| The Amsterdam Laboratory on Earth System Governance is a research seminar, hosted by the IVM section Environmental Policy Analysis, on new research in the area of environmental and earth-system governance. In weekly meetings, held each Thursday 12-13 hrs, participants will be given the opportunity to present and discuss their work, and receive valuable feedback. The research seminar will provide a regular opportunity to exchange views on new research directions, concepts, themes and methods in earth system governance research. |
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| Wageningen Evolution and Ecology Seminars (WEES) - Michael Begon: "Infectious diseases: from wild rodents to universal truths", 25 June, Wageningen |
| WEES is an initiative from PhD students and postdocs at Wageningen University to organize a continuing series of stimulating seminars on contemporary topics in evolution and ecology. We aim to bring together different groups at Wageningen University using a variety of systems, but with a common interest in evolutionary and ecological questions. For this series we invite researchers from all over the world that have leading roles in their field. After the talk there will be drinks for an informal discussion and a dinner in town with the speaker. |
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| Upcoming Events |
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| SENSE Summer Symposium 2015, 18 June: "Make a change! - Successful interaction with society" - Register NOW!! |
- interesting keynote speakers
- challenging workshops
- Poster-pitch presentations (and the pitchers can get a free pitching workshop beforehand!)
- Lots of opportunities to network
- A buffet and party with culinary surprises
- Live music
Check our website for more details and register!! Hope to see you there!
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| 2nd SENSE Sports Day: Beach volleyball tournament, 4 July |
Join us for a day under the sun and compete against other SENSE fellows. All abilities are welcome. The championship is followed by a barbecue party.
Organised by SENSE PhD Council.
Signing up and general questions, please contact:
> Arda (a.isildar@unesco-ihe.org), or
> Thea (t.a.r.turkington@utwente.nl)
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| SENSE Symposium: "Hazard, Risk and Sustainability in the Soil Environment" (HRSSE), 14 October, Wageningen |
The year of 2015 has been declared by the United Nations as the International Year of Soils, under the topic "Healthy Soils for a Healthy Life". According to the UN, "the current rate of soil degradation threatens the capacity to meet the needs of future generations". Therefore, there is an urgent need to promote sustainable soil and land management practices, in order to ensure a productive and healthy food system and environment.
The Symposium "Hazard, Risk and Sustainability in the Soil Environment" (HRSSE) is organized by four PhD students from the Soil Physics and Land Management Group (SLM), from the department of Environmental Sciences of Wageningen University, The Netherlands. The aim of this symposium is to share knowledge between students and researchers, and to promote the discussion of new ideas, problems and challenges faced, and solutions encountered for the different soil-related topics covering this symposium.
Call for abstracts!
Authors can submit an abstract to the HRSSE Symposium.
The deadline to submit an abstract is 20 August 2015. |
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| Overview of upcoming events |
| Recently announced: |
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| Full list of interesting upcoming events: |
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| Tips |
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| SENSE MSc Honours Programme 2015/2016, deadline 16 June 2015 |
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Plan your own research career & elaborate your own PhD proposal
- Are you an excellent MSc student who is dreaming of an academic research career starting at a worldwide renowned SENSE research group?
- Do you want to elaborate your own original PhD research proposal in the field of “Sustainability Sciences”?
- Do you want to participate in a group of highly motivated MSc students?
- Would you like to choose your own PhD supervisor at one of our participating SENSE groups?
Then the MSc Honours Programme might be something for you!
Application deadline: 16 June 2015
How to apply and procedure?
Please, read the folder for more information about the programme, the procedure and how to apply.
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| Vacancies |
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| De Onderzoeksredactie zoekt deelnemers Teaching Lab, deadline 31 May |
Wil je een goede of een nog betere onderzoeksjournalist worden? Wij zoeken kandidaten voor ons volgende – achtste – Teaching Lab, voorheen ‘masterclass’.
Het Lab gaat 27 augustus 2015 van start. Een kleine, scherp geselecteerde groep van vier tot zes deelnemers zal een half jaar aan een groot onderzoek werken, onder begeleiding van hoofdredacteur Marcel Metze, andere redacteuren en trainers.
Wij vragen van de deelnemers geen betaling maar wel een aanzienlijke tijdsinvestering. Zij krijgen een intensieve praktijkopleiding, het vooruitzicht op een publicatie van topkwaliteit en een uitstekende basis voor een verdere ontwikkeling tot onderzoeksjournalist.
Mensen met een andere dan sociale of geesteswetenschappelijke opleiding, bijvoorbeeld in de exacte of technische wetenschappen, rechten, biomedische wetenschappen of datajournalistiek, worden actief aangemoedigd om te solliciteren.
Het Teaching Lab moet leiden tot de publicatie van een grote en diepgravende feature in op de site van De Onderzoeksredactie en in De Groene Amsterdammer. Het is voor jonge journalisten bovendien de route om vaste medewerker te worden bij De Onderzoeksredactie en een specialisme te ontwikkelen voor ons en onze premium partners. |
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| Post-Doctoral Position “An industrial ecology approach to implementation of pyrolysis bioenergy at a regional scale”, University of Waterloo, Canada, deadline 1 June |
| A motivated individual is required to work on a diverse, multidisciplinary, collaborative BioFuelNet Canada project involving several Canadian universities University of Toronto, University of Guelph, Memorial University of Newfoundland) and industrial partners. BioFuelNet Canada is a Network of Centres of Excellence that brings together the Canadian biofuels research community to address challenges in the advanced biofuels industry. |
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| PhD fellowship Assessment of ecosystem services and ecological integrity of coastal lagoon ecosystems in the context of ecological restoration, France, deadline 13 June |
| The proposed PhD subject focuses on coastal lagoons in South France that have been exposed to nutrient over-enrichment in a context of increasing urbanisation and coastal development. The legal obligation to achieve a good ecological status for these aquatic ecosystems (Water Framework Directive, WFD) has promoted the implementation of public policies focussing on reducing nutrient inputs and raises the question of their ecological restoration. The concepts of Ecosystem Services and Ecological Integrity will be used to assess the benefits of ecological restoration of coastal lagoon ecosystems for human societies. This way, the thesis will establish a link between the ecological improvements and the benefits for man to engage in ecological restoration. The aim is to develop the necessary scientific knowledge for the development of a participatory approach that is based both on optimising the benefits for humans as well on respecting the legal obligation (WFD) for achieving good ecological status in these lagoons. The candidate should have a clear interest in the pertinent aspects of aquatic ecology and restoration ecology as well as socio-economic sciences for this transdisciplinary study. |
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| Post-doctoral position: Modeling of a microalgae refining process for life cycle environmental assessment, Université de Nantes, France, deadline 25 June |
This position is part of a research project, in partnership with GEPEA and Algosource, called Algo-Raff, dedicated to the industrial development of a biorefining process for micro-algae. New products issued from the refining process will emerge for various applications: cosmetics, green chemistry, fertilizers, food for human and livestock, pharmacy, construction materials and in the longer term, energy.
Environmental assessment is necessary to calculate impacts of such products considering various technological options.
The missions of the post-doc first consist in modeling various unit operations possibly used for the refining process.
In a second step, unit operations will be connected to model the overall refining process, considering various technological options.
In a third step, the influence of biorefining parameters (inputs, operating conditions, technological options) on environmental performances will be assessed by coupling sensitivity analysis and Life Cycle Assessment. Results will highlight action levers in order to reach the best possible environmental performance. |
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