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Research School for Socio-Economic and
Natural Sciences of the Environment |
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Newsletter November 2017
31 October 2017 |
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The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2017 (COP 23): a ray of light in dark times? ›› |
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Utrecht University will host the Earth System Governance project office ››
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Professor Willem de Vos Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion ››
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Five SENSE professors in Trouw Sustainable 100 ranking ››
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Christian Siderius in Bureau Buitenland: "Unbearable heat in large parts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh due to global warming" ›› |
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Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period ›› |
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Stable isotope applications in microbiology and environmental studies, 11-14 December ›› |
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Overview of PhD / postdoc courses November 2017 - January 2018 ›› |
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Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses ›› |
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R Users Discussion Group Meeting, 7 November ›› |
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Wageningen Evolution and Ecology Seminars (WEES), 20 November ›› |
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Workshop Migration in the context of Water Scarcity, 6 December 2017 ›› |
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9th ESP World Conference on Ecosystem Services, 11-15 December ›› |
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Overview of upcoming events ›› |
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Vacancies at SENSE Partners ›› |
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| Editorial |
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| The United Nations Climate Change Conference 2017 (COP 23): a ray of light in dark times? |
Amidst news that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have grown at record pace in 2016 to reach levels unprecedented in over 800.000 years, governments will meet in Bonn starting on 6 November for the coming two weeks to discuss the status of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the important next steps. Chaired by the island nation Fiji, negotiators will focus on a set of guidelines on how the Paris Agreement’s provisions will be implemented across a wide range of issues including transparency, adaptation, emission reductions, provision of finance, capacity-building and technology. The aim is to make progress in all these areas so that the guidelines can be completed by COP24 in Poland in 2018. Next to governments, a wide range of stakeholders will be gathering in Bonn to support the climate negotiations and to show progress towards a low carbon future. Under the leadership of the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action, a range of events will demonstrate how cities, regions, businesses and investors are working to implement the Paris Agreement. Confirmed speakers include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo,  California Governor Jerry Brown, Astronaut Thomas Pesquet, Unilever CEO Paul Polman, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and Explorer Bertrand Picard, among others.
While its concrete outcome is unknown, COP23 represents something like a ray of hope in the dark times of alternative facts, climate denial, environmental deregulation and a growing global lobby against climate action. It is also an opportunity for us scientists to think about our role in bringing about a more sustainable future. With our reward and evaluation systems still geared towards producing as much output as possible (irrespective of its later use), the crisis of science, which manifests itself in the ever growing skepticism against the idea of objective truth, might also be a chance to discover new ways of engaging with the wider public and society. These are the times for scientists to leave their ivory towers and become engulfed in the murky waters of politics. Maybe some of you come out to Bonn to show the world that we stand united against the forces of the past.
Professor Philipp Pattburg (VU), General Director SENSE |
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| SENSE News |
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| Utrecht University will host the Earth System Governance project office |
The Earth System Governance Project and Utrecht University have reached an agreement that Utrecht will host the International Project Office of the Earth System Governance network from 2019 onwards.
The Earth System Governance Project is the largest global research network in the field of sustainability governance and policy. It brings together a research community of about 400 formally affiliated researchers, along with a broader network of over 2000 sustainability researchers and practitioners.
The office will be co-located with SENSE partner the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. |
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| Professor Willem de Vos Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion |
SENSE professor Willem the Vos (Microbiology WUR) was appointed Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. Willem de Vos contributed to fundamental scientific breakthroughs he translated in numerous innovative biotechnological applications. He supervised more than 100 PhD candidates and wrote many publications. |
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| Five SENSE professors in Trouw Sustainable 100 ranking |
 Five SENSE scientists are on Trouw’s 2017 annual list of the 100 most influential Dutch people in the area of sustainability.They are:
- Klaas van Egmond, professor Environmental sciences and Sustainability UU, place 43
- Pier Vellinga, emeritus professor Earth System Sciences WUR and Societal Impacts of Climate Change VU, 46)
- Frank Berendse, emeritus professor Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation WUR, place 47
- Maarten Hajer, professor Urban Futures UU, place 76
- Marko Hekkert, professor Dynamics of Innovation Systems UU, place 82
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| Christian Siderius in Bureau Buitenland: "Unbearable heat in large parts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh due to global warming" |
SENSE alumnus Christian Siderius (WUR) was a guest in the radio broadcast Bureau Buitenland and discussed the causes and consequences of extremely high temperatures in large parts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh due to global warming. |
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| Upcoming PhD Graduations |
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| Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period |
- Joeri Naus
The Social Dynamics of Smart Grids: on Households, Information flows & Sustainable energy transitions
1 November 2017, Wageningen University, Environmental Policy
- Eva Kunseler
Government expert organisations in-between logics: Practising participatory knowledge production at the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
6 November 2017, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Environmental Policy Analysis
- Rafael Bernardi De León
Forest - grassland transitions: How livestock and fire shape grassy biomes
15 November 2017, Wageningen University, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management
- Paul Hudson
The use of insurance to improve flood resilience
16 November 2017, VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Spatial Analysis and Decision Support
- Mohanasundar Radhakrishnan
Embedding flexibility in adaptating to flood risk in urban areas
22 November 2017, UNESCO-IHE, Flood Resilience
- Boudewijn Elsinga
Chasing the clouds: irradiance variability and forecasting for photovoltaics
24 November 2017, Utrecht University, Energy and Resources
- Nirajan Dhakal
Controlling biofouling in seawater reverse osmosis system during algal blooms
30 November 2017, IHE Delft, River Basin Development
Graduation date:
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| Upcoming Courses |
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| Stable isotope applications in microbiology and environmental studies, 11-14 December |
| Stable isotope concepts currently are being used for the investigation of microbial processes in natural and contaminated environments. Stable isotope fractionation allows characterizing microbial reactions in laboratory studies as well as in the environment, e.g. for the investigation of the fate of groundwater contaminants. Stable isotope tracer concepts furthermore provide insight in microbial networks and interactions and degradation pathways in e.g. bioreactors and gut microbiomes. This four day course intends to provide an overview of current stable isotope applications and concepts in form of lectures, case studies and exercises and laboratory visits. |
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| Overview of PhD / postdoc courses November 2017 - January 2018 |
- Speciation and Bioavailability of Metals, Organics and Nanoparticles
6-10 November 2017, Belgium
- Which regulation do we need for bioaccumulation and toxicity assessment?
8 November 2017, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
- Introduction to Time Series Analysis
14-17 November 2017, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
- Generalized Linear Models for Evolutionary Ecologists
20-24 November 2017, France
- Processes in Soil - fluid flow, solute transport and matter turnover
27-29 November 2017, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
- Molecular Methods in Ecology and Evolution
27 November 2017 - 27 January 2018, Groningen
- Stable isotope applications in microbiology and environmental studies
11-14 December 2017, Wageningen
- Statistical Uncertainty Analysis of Dynamic Models
11-15 December 2017, Wageningen
- Basic Statistics
11, 12, 13, 18, 19 December 2017, Wageningen
- Design of Experiments
20-22 December 2017, Wageningen
- Practical Bioinformatics for Biologists
8 January - 3 February 2018, Groningen
- Advanced Qualitative Research Design and Data Collection
8 January - 16 February 2018, Wageningen
- Structural Equation Modelling (NEW)
22-26 January 2018, Wageningen
- World Food System Summer School 2018: Food Systems in Transition
27 January - 10 February 2018
- Introduction to Zero Inflated Models with R - Frequentist and Bayesian approaches
29 January - 2 February 2018, Wageningen
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| Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses |
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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). |
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| Discussion Groups |
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| R Users Discussion Group Meeting, 7 November |
| The R Users Meeting is a monthly meeting for people working with R. PhD and MSc students, as well as staff members, both beginners as well as advanced R users are welcome. The meeting offers an opportunity to help each other with specific questions and exchange ideas. In each meeting a specific topic is discussed by demonstrating and discussing examples of R functions and example data. The second part of each meeting is reserved for short questions on R codes and offers opportunity to get advice on your R code and how to fix or improve it. |
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| Wageningen Evolution and Ecology Seminars (WEES), 20 November |
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.
This month's seminar: Professor Michael Brockhurst, Professor of Professor of Microbial Evolution, Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield (UK): “Microbial evolution: Taking a dip in the mobile gene pool” |
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| Upcoming Events |
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| Workshop Migration in the context of Water Scarcity, 6 December 2017 |
| With David Zetland, Water policy expert as well as author of popular and academic writing on the political economy of water, Karen Meijer, specialist in global environmental governance and multi-actor policy implementations, Andreas Sterl, senior scientist in weather and climate modeling, and Louise van Schaik, head Clingendael International Sustainability Centre and senior research fellow in scarcity of natural resources. |
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| 9th ESP World Conference on Ecosystem Services, 11-15 December |
The 9th World Conference of the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) will be held in Shenzhen, China 11-15 December 2017. The overarching theme this year will be “Ecosystem Services for Eco-civilisation: restoring connections between people and landscapes through Nature Based Solutions”.
The registration will close 26 November 2017.
> For information on the conference: www.espconference.org
> For information on ESP: www.es-partnership.org |
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| Overview of upcoming events |
| Recently announced: |
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| Full list of interesting upcoming events: |
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| Job vacancies |
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| Vacancies at SENSE Partners |
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| More vacancies |
| During the month new vacancies are regularly posted on the SENSE vacancy page. |
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