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Research School for Socio-Economic and
Natural Sciences of the Environment
SENSE e-News
    Newsletter July / August 2017
29 June 2017
Table of contents
Editorial
Collaboration with partners & Selection SENSE Honours students 2017-2018 ››
SENSE News
Professor Eddy Moors new Rector IHE ››
Inauguration Violette Geissen (WUR): 'Standards are desperately needed for plastic and pesticide contamination in soil' ››
Inaugural address Fulco Ludwig (WUR): Energy an agriculture compete for water in changing climate ››
Detlef van Vuuren (UU): What will happen if Trump withdraws from Paris Agreement ››
Upcoming PhD Graduations
Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period ››
Upcoming Courses
A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 4-6 October ››
Making an Impact! How to increase the societal relevance of your PhD research, 16-17 October ››
Overview of PhD / postdoc courses July-September ››
Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses ››
Upcoming Events
SENSE Symposium Soil contamination: scope, advances and challenges, 1 September ››
Overview of upcoming events ››
Tips
National Postdoc Prize, deadline 15 July ››
Open for applications: The VU Fellowship in Ethics of the Anthropocene: Religion, Ethics, and Environmental Change, deadline 15 July ››
Professional PhD Program vacancies
Job vacancies
Vacancies at SENSE Partners ››
Other vacancies in the SENSE field ››
SENSE headlines
Professor Eddy Moors new Rector IHE
Making an Impact! How to increase the societal relevance of your PhD research, 16-17 October
SENSE Symposium Soil contamination: scope, advances and challenges, 1 September
Open for applications: The VU Fellowship in Ethics of the Anthropocene: Religion, Ethics, and Environmental Change, deadline 15 July
Editorial
Editorial
Collaboration
The SENSE Research School wants to further improve its collaboration with governmental, non-governmental and industrial organisations.
In this regard, SENSE wants to play also an active role in the development of the Dutch transition agendas and has decided to sign the National Agreement on the Circular Economy (“grondstoffenakkoord”).
Moreover, SENSE discussed the possibilities for strengthening the collaboration with the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and the new Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation (GCECA – still under development) in the past few months. You will be informed on the results soon.

Selection SENSE Honours students 2017-2018
The class of the SENSE MSc Honours Programme 2017-2018 are selected! On Friday June 23, the selection presentations were held before the SENSE Honours Jury consisting of Dr. Ad van Dommelen, Dr. Bas van Vliet and Dr. Pita Verweij. The jury was impressed by the quality of the students and submitted six excellent students to the honours programme.

With honour we present the SENSE MSc Honours Class of 2017-2018:
Ibnu Budiman (Environmental Sciences WUR), Ilan Havinga (Climate Studies WUR), Enpei Li (Environmental Sciences WUR), Esther Peerlings (Earth and Environment WUR), Wessel van der Sande (Civil Engineering and Management UT), Fenna Wielenga (Climate Studies WUR).

Congratulations to you all and good luck with writing your PhD research proposal!
SENSE News
Professor Eddy Moors new Rector IHE Delft
Professor Eddy Moors will become the new Rector of IHE Delft. He was officially introduced at the Institute’s 60th Anniversary Conference. Eddy Moors will succeed Dr. Fritz Holzwarth, who has been Rector ad interim for the past 1,5 years. Professor Moors will start on 1 July.

Eddy Moors was head of the research team ‘Climate change and adaptive land & water management’ at Alterra (the Wageningen Environmental Research group). He is also Professor of Water and Climate at the VU University Amsterdam. 
Read more ››
Inauguration Violette Geissen (WUR): 'Standards are desperately needed for plastic and pesticide contamination in soil'
In addition to plastic in the oceans, plastic contamination in arable land throughout Europe and other parts of the world is a growing problem. No standards exist for these types of soil pollutants, nor for pesticide residues or their degradation products. For this reason, Professor Violette Geissen is calling for standards to be implemented. On 15 June, Geissen delivered her inaugural address as professor holding a personal chair at Wageningen University & Research.
Read more ››
Inaugural address Fulco Ludwig (WUR): Energy an agriculture compete for water in changing climate
How to globally supply food and energy production with enough water, remaing enough for nature, in a climate that continues to get dryer? In his inaugural address at Wageningen University and Research on 22 June prof. Fulco Ludwig gives an overview of deminishing water currents and offers perspectives for governments and individual farmers.
Read more ››
Detlef van Vuuren (UU): What will happen if Trump withdraws from Paris Agreement



President Donald Trump sent a tweet to announce his decision on the Paris Agreement on climate change. 'From an economic perspective, this would be unwise for the US', says Detlef van Vuuren, Professor of Integrated Assessment of Global Environmental Change at Utrecht University (UU). How would he convince Trump to adhere to the agreements laid down in the Paris Agreement? 
Read more ››
Upcoming PhD Graduations
Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period
  • Confidence Duku
    Modelling the dynamic interactions between food production and ecosystem services: a case study in Benin
    5 July 2017, Wageningen University, Environmental Systems Analysis
     
  • Kapongola Oswald Nganyanyuka
    Seeing like a citizen: access to water in urban and rural Tanzania
    12 July 2017, University of Twente, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-information Management
     
  • Bingxi Li
    A Clash of Plants. vegetation succession and its interaction with permafrost dynamics in the Arctic lowland tundra
    29 August 2017, Wageningen University, Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology  
     
  • Majedul Islam
    Assessing the impact of socio-economic development and climate change on Faecal Indicator Bacteria in the Betna River, Bangladesh
    30 August 2017, Wageningen University, Environmental Systems Analysis
     
  • Sophie Brasseur
    Seals in motion. How movements drive population development of harbour seals and grey seals in the North Sea
    30 August 2017, Wageningen University, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management
     
  • Muhammad Shahid Iqbal
    Quantifying the impact of socio-economic development and climate change on Escherichia coli concentrations in the Pakistani Kabul river
    30 August 2017, Wageningen University, Environmental Systems Analysis
       
More upcoming graduations ››
Upcoming Courses
A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 4-6 October
What is my work good for? Even the most nerdish PhD student asks himself or herself this question once in a while. Is it just for the sake of science or does it relate to other research or even to environmental policy? What are my SENSE colleagues working on in other departments and other universities? How does their research relate to mine?
In the SENSE course 'Environmental Research in Context' several perspectives and approaches to analyse and to solve environmental problems are discussed. You will find out how your own research project fits within other (multi-) disciplinary approaches and you will discuss the advantages and the disadvantages of your approach compared to these alternatives.
Registration deadline: 6 September
Read more and register ››
Making an Impact! How to increase the societal relevance of your PhD research, 16-17 October
In the course, you will learn about activities to increase the societal relevance of your research, and how these can be balanced with other commitments and priorities in your PhD-programme. This course focuses predominantly on less well-known activities to collaborate with professional groups, citizens and other stakeholders. In a panel discussion, experienced researchers will provide examples of their own experiences, and describe how the quality of the research ultimately benefited from impact activities as well.
You will develop the necessary skills for identifying stakeholders’ needs, building relations, organising a dialogue and integrating research in a wider process of change, while practising with some relevant techniques.
Finally, you will explore your personal wishes and develop ideas about how to integrate impact activities in your research. Via intensive exchange with the other course members, you will elaborate a good plan for your own PhD project, ready to be presented to your supervisors after the course. 
Read more and register ››
Overview of PhD / postdoc courses July-September
Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses
In case you are interested in either participating or teaching a course that is currently not in the programme, please do not hesitate and contact SENSE education coordinator Monique Gulickx (monique.gulickx@wur.nl).
More upcoming courses ››
Upcoming Events
SENSE Symposium Soil contamination: scope, advances and challenges, 1 September
This symposium is organised by SENSE PhD candidates Vera Silva, Mousumi Akter, Carlos Faúndez Urbina and Pavan Cornelissen (WUR).

Soils are essential to life, playing important roles in several processes - climate and flood regulation, nutrient cycling, water purification, carbon sequestration, provision of food, fibre and fuel. However, our soils are exposed to several threats, such as contamination by heavy metals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals or even by saltwater. Soil contamination mainly occurs as a consequence of human activities, for example by the use of fertilizers, wastewater irrigation, or pesticides in agriculture. Soil contamination can also occur naturally, as in the case of saltwater intrusion.

Pollution of the soil can be hazardous to the health of humans, animals, and plants through direct exposure, or indirectly through contamination of ground- and surface water. The processes that occur in the soil are complex, as it is a mix of physicochemical and biological processes. Understanding these processes is important in order to determine and predict the fate of contaminants in the soil, and assess the risk to the public health or environment.

The key topics of this symposium are the transport and fate of contaminants in the soil, the related risk to human health or the environment, and remediation of the soil. The symposium will cover both experimental studies and modelling.

Registration and abstract submission should be done before 15th of July of 2017.

The symposium is free of charge. Registration is required. 
Read more ››
Overview of upcoming events
Recently announced:
Full list of interesting upcoming events:
See SENSE website ››
Tips
National Postdoc Prize, deadline 15 July
The National Postdoc Prize was established in 2017 by The Young Academy (DJA) and the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW) as an incentive for postdoc researchers who conduct excellent scientific research that could have a major impact on society.

Nomination rounds will be held annually, with nominations being accepted on an alternating basis in the social sciences/humanities in one year and in science/medicine in the next year. In 2017, the prize will be awarded to a postdoc in science/medicine.

The National Postdoc Prize consists of a monetary award of EUR 10,000 and a certificate. Laureates may spend this amount at their discretion on their own research or on research conducted under their supervision.

The National Postdoc Prize is intended for postdoc researchers and assistant professors at a Dutch university or Dutch research institute who have received their PhD no more than ten years previously from a Dutch university.

The deadline for submitting nominations is 15 July 2017.
More information ››
Open for applications: The VU Fellowship in Ethics of the Anthropocene: Religion, Ethics, and Environmental Change, deadline 15 July
We are delighted to announce that we are now open for applications for the 2018 Senior Fellowship in Ethics of the Anthropocene: Religion, Ethics, and Environmental Change.

The fellowship is designed to attract scholars from a variety of fields who specialise in the analysis of the ethical dimensions of global environmental change, with a particular, but not exclusive emphasis on the teachings of the major world religions, including indigenous spirituality. In addition to pursuing their research, Fellows are encouraged to participate in debates among different academic communities at VU Amsterdam and beyond. Such debates could include VU researchers involved in, for instance, theology and the study of religion, philosophy, law, social sciences, environmental studies, and earth and life sciences.

Applications should be submitted by 15 July 2017.
More information ››
Professional PhD Program vacancies
The Professional PhD Program (PPP) aims to provide opportunities for PhD candidates to work on their transferable skills. Currently the PhD track fully focuses on an academic career, while around 80 per cent of the people who finish their PhD will continue their career outside universities. In addition to this, companies and public organizations can experience the added value of a PhD candidate. Furthermore, PPP can strengthen the collaboration between universities and non-academic organizations. The Professional PhD Program is an initiative by Promovendi Netwerk Nederland.
Read more ››
  • Subsidy coordinator, University of Amsterdam (Dutch-speaking)
    Application deadline: 3 July 2017
Job vacancies
Vacancies at SENSE Partners
Other vacancies in the SENSE field
More vacancies
During the month new vacancies are regularly posted on the SENSE vacancy page.

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