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Research School for Socio-Economic and
Natural Sciences of the Environment |
SENSE e-News |
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Newsletter May 2018
09 May 2018 |
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KNAW membership for SENSE general board member Detlef van Vuuren (PBL) ›› |
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Frank Biermann (UU) awarded ERC Advanced Grant for SDG research ›› |
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Increasing climate variability will hit world’s poorest countries ›› |
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A growing climate niche for giant trees ›› |
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New book: Governing Climate Change: Polycentricity in Action? ›› |
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Wiebke Klemm in Nature Today with Draft directives for climate-proof green in the city ›› |
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Ingestion of plastic by Polar Cod ›› |
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From river to whale: how bad are microplastics for real? ›› |
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WALRUS shows rainwater discharge in lowland river catchments ›› |
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Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period ›› |
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Principles of Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics, 26-28 September ›› |
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Summer School Archetype analysis in sustainability research, 8-12 October ›› |
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Overview of PhD / postdoc courses May - July ›› |
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Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses ›› |
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Discussion group Landscape Dynamics, 22 May ›› |
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R Users Discussion Group Meeting, 6 June ›› |
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CML 40 years Symposium "Sustainability in a world ruled by populists", 28 June ›› |
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International Conference Water science for impact, 16-18 October ›› |
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2018 Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance: Governing Global Sustainability in a Complex World - Key Research Insights & New Research Directions, 5-8 November ›› |
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Overview of upcoming events ›› |
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Vacancies at SENSE Partners ›› |
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Other vacancies in the SENSE field ›› |
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Editorial |
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Making SENSE |
The SENSE network has some special announcements to celebrate.
First of all, Prof. Detlef van Vuuren (member of SENSE General Board on behalf of PBL, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency) has been elected to join the ranks of KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences). We congratulate Detlef with this extraordinary honour! See details at: https://www.knaw.nl/en/news/news/royal-academy-selects-21-new-members?set_language=en
Next, we congratulate Prof. Frank Biermann (former General Director of SENSE) for being awarded an ERC Advanced Grant for SDG Research. Details may be found at: https://www.uu.nl/en/news/frank-biermann-awarded-erc-advanced-grant-for-sdg-research
Then we congratulate the organizers of the recent workshop meeting of PBL Young and SENSE (on Friday 20 April) – not only was this a very inspiring learning occasion, but also it was decided to continue this exchange as a network activity. If you already want to be involved in future activities, then pls go to: http://pbl.sense.nl (with nice group photo) and register your wish to join.
We congratulate the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML, Leiden University) with its 40th anniversary: on Thursday 28 June 2018 there will be a celebration day under the overarching theme: "Sustainability in a world ruled by populists” (for details and registration, go to: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/2018/06/cml_40_years).
Finally, we congratulate Prof. Martin Wassen (Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University) for bringing his experience to his new role as Chair of the SENSE General Board. After serving for five years as Chair, Prof. Huub Rijnaarts (WIMEK, Wageningen University) had announced his wish to resign from this position.
Let’s make SENSE together!
Ad van Dommelen |
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SENSE News |
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KNAW membership for SENSE general board member Detlef van Vuuren (PBL) |
SENSE board member Professor Detlef van Vuuren, climate scientist at PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, has been awarded membership of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Van Vuuren receives this membership because of his outstanding scientific research on global sustainability issues, and on climate in particular.
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Frank Biermann (UU) awarded ERC Advanced Grant for SDG research |
Frank Biermann, Professor of Global Sustainability Governance (UU) and former SENSE general director, has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant. He will use this prestigious European grant worth EUR 2.5 million to conduct research into the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2015. The ERC Advanced Grant is the European Research Council's highest research grant and is allocated annually to senior researchers whose groundbreaking work opens up new directions in their field..
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Increasing climate variability will hit world’s poorest countries |
It has been difficult to predict how weather extremes such as heat waves and cold snaps might change in a future climate. Now, a team of researchers from the Universities of Wageningen, Montpellier and Exeter revealed an unfair pattern. The research team found that rich countries that contributed most to climate change will see less temperature fluctuation, whereas in poor countries the fluctuations will become stronger.
While temperature variability is predicted to decrease outside of the tropics, it will increase in tropical countries – countries that are often too poor to deal with these changes. Temperature variability increases by up to approximately 15% per degree of global warming in Amazonia and Southern Africa, and by up to 10% per degree in the Sahel, India and South East Asia.
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A growing climate niche for giant trees |
New techniques using lasers on satellites reveal where giant trees are. An international group of scientists led by Wageningen University & Research and Nanjing University, now showed that across climate zones ‘giant forests’ (~40 m) are a markedly distinct phenomenon with a specific climate niche that may expand globally with climate change.
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New book: Governing Climate Change: Polycentricity in Action? |
The new book “Governing Climate Change: Polycentricity in Action?” has just appeared at Cambridge University Press with contributions of (current and former) SENSE researchers Lisa Sanderink, Oscar Widerberg, Philipp Pattberg, Sander Chan and Harro van Asselt (IVM-VU) and Robbert Biesbroek (WUR).
Climate change governance is in a state of enormous flux. New and more dynamic forms of governing are appearing around the international climate regime centred on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Some appear to be emerging spontaneously, producing a more dispersed pattern of governing, which Nobel Prize laureate Elinor Ostrom described as 'polycentric'.
This new 20-chapter book with Cambridge University Press brings together contributions from 40 of the world's foremost experts to provide the first systematic test of the ability of polycentric thinking to explain and enhance societal attempts to govern climate change. |
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Wiebke Klemm in Nature Today with Draft directives for climate-proof green in the city |
Een belangrijk punt op de duurzaamheidsagenda’s van veel gemeenten is de klimaatbestendige stad. Nieuw hierin is hitte: hoe kunnen wij openbare ruimte zodanig vormgeven dat stadsbewoners geen overlast ervaren door hitte? Recent onderzoek biedt hiervoor negen direct toepasbare ontwerprichtlijnen. Deze kunnen landschapsarchitecten bij gemeenten helpen bij het inrichten van openbare ruimtes.
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Ingestion of plastic by Polar Cod |
The Arctic Ocean is often considered an undisturbed and pristine environment. Unfortunately, the Arctic isn’t an enclosed system but influenced by humans, as nowadays climate change and pollution play major roles. During the last few years, an additional gyre has been indicated in the vicinity of the Svalbard archipelago, accumulating marine plastic debris from southern, more urbanized areas. Plastic particles trapped in sea ice can be released as that ice melts, becoming available to organisms living and feeding underneath the sea ice.
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From river to whale: how bad are microplastics for real? |
How bad microplastics really are remains a difficult question. It is beyond doubt that microplastics are omnipresent in the environment in huge numbers, and those numbers will increase for the time being. SENSE PhD Ellen Besseling (WUR) is the first PhD in the Netherlands graduated on a dissertation on these tiny particles and her conclusion is that ecological risks is not unlikely.
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WALRUS shows rainwater discharge in lowland river catchments |
The Hydrology and Quantitative Water Management chair group of Wageningen UR hosted a users' day in cooperation with Deltares for representatives of water boards, Rijkswaterstaat, consultancy firms and knowledge institutes. The central focus of the day was the Wageningen Lowland Runoff Simulator (WALRUS), a rainfall-discharge model for lowland river catchments. This model was developed by SENSE PhD graduate Claudia Brauer as part of her PhD research. ‘Our model is already being used by five water boards, for example as a prediction model for high water or as a reference model,’ explains Claudia Brauer. ‘There were 30 people at the users’ day, including hydrologists from 13 water boards, and they were able to practice with the model themselves. There is therefore a good chance that it will be used even more in the future.’
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Upcoming PhD Graduations |
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Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period |
- Pedi Chiemena Obani
Strengthening the human right to sanitation as an instrument for inclusive development
16 May 2018, IHE Delft, Water Governance
- Nitin Bhatia
17 May 2018, University of Twente, Department of Earth Observation Science
- Rehana Shrestha
Interactive map-based support system: Supporting social learning and knowledge co-production in environmental health issues
23 May 2018, University of Twente, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-information Management
- Adenew Taffa Ariti
Land use governance in Ethiopia: the role of different stakeholders
28 May 2018, VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Spatial Analysis and Decision Support
- Riswan Septriayadi Sianturi
30 May 2018, University of Twente, Department of Earth Systems Analysis
- Lisette Bakker
The positive effect of biodiversity. Using root traits to understand effects of plant diversity and drought on grassland productivity
30 May 2018, Wageningen University, Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology
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Upcoming Courses |
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Principles of Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics, 26-28 September |
Ecological genomics is a quite new scientific discipline, which studies ecological complexity, nutrient cycles, life-history patterns and responses of organisms to environmental stress at the genomic level. Analysis of environmental genomes will improve our understanding of ecosystem functions and biodiversity and may help to define and measure environmental quality. This course is intended for those just embarking on genomics within an ecological setting and teaches the fundamentals of the discipline, while concentrating on ecological questions. The course will focus on three topics, each of which is treated by introductory lectures, assignments, case studies and student presentations. |
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Summer School Archetype analysis in sustainability research, 8-12 October |
Interdisciplinary sustainability research, e.g., on land-use or adaptation to climate change, is increasingly confronted with the difficulties of embracing complexity while building and testing theories that synthesize such complexity into actionable theories. Comparative case studies are frequently employed for this task. However, rigorous comparative approaches are yet frequently hampered by (i) a high heterogeneity of cases that limit generalization, and (ii) multiple epistemic perspectives (e.g. from institutional economics, geography or modelling) that are not easily integrated. In recent years, archetype analysis has been evolving as an approach to deal with this twofold challenge.
The summer school provides a cutting-edge introduction to archetype analysis by internationally leading experts. The approach will be trained by hands-on applications, accompanied by an introduction to and training of suitable analytical methods (Qualitative Comparative Analysis or Cluster Analysis), and further developed. |
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Overview of PhD / postdoc courses May - July 2018 |
- Policy and governance theories for analysing water issues
14 May - 1 June 2018, Wageningen
- NCAS Atmospheric Measurement Summer School
14-25 May 2018, Scotland, UK
- STEPS Centre Summer School
14-25 May 2018, Brighton, UK
- Embodiment, Food & Environment (NEW)
15-25 May 2018, Wageningen
- Introduction to R for statistical analysis
17-18 May 2018, Wageningen
- Survival Analysis
17-18 May 2018, Wageningen
- Impressions Summer School: Exploring climate change challenges and solution in the real world - From research to practice
21-25 May 2018, Bulgaria
- Advanced Course on Environmental Biotechnology
22 May - 1 June, Delft
- Design of Experiments
23-25 May 2018, Wageningen
- Hands-on Digital Soil Mapping
28 May - 1 June 2018, Wageningen
- World soils and their assessment
28 May - 1 June 2018, Wageningen
- Machine learning for spatial data
28 May - 1 June 2018, Wageningen
- Advanced Course on Economic Regulation
28 May - 1 June 2018, Wageningen
- Dilemmas in fieldwork and research ethics: Consent, privacy, and beyond
28 May - 1 June 2018, Wageningen
- IIASA Young Scientists Summer Programme
1 June - 31 August 2018, Laxenburg, Austria
- Linear Models
8, 11 and 12 June 2018, Wageningen
- Generalized Linear Models
14-15 June 2018, Wageningen
- 14th Summer School on Toxic Compounds in the Environment 2018
18-22 June 2018, Czech Republic
- Mixed Linear Models
21-22 June 2018, Wageningen
- Master Classes Adaptation Futures 2018 (NEW)
22 June 2018, South Africa
- Conflicting demands in European Forests - a wicked problem?
24 June - 2 July 2018, Wageningen
- Navigating Brussels with ELLS 2018
25-27 June 2018, Belgium
- BioBusiness Summer School
25-29 June 2018, Amsterdam
- Summer school Political Ecologies between Power, Political Economy and Post-Truth
27 June - 3 July 2018, Wageningen
- The precautionary principle in sustainability transitions: Thinking forwards, looking backwards, acting
28 June - 4 July 2018, Hungary
- Summer School Unstable geographies of play, ownership and empowerment; An Action Research Event
28-30 June 2018, Amsterdam
- Meta-Analysis
4-5 July 2018, Wageningen
- International Summer School : Concepts and tools to engage in knowledge co-production and public participation (NEW)
9-13 July 2018, France
- Interpretive Policy Analysis Summer School: Conflict and sustainable futures
9-13 July 2018, Amsterdam
- Groningen Energy Summer School "Local energy innovation for global change"
12-20 July 2018, Groningen
- 2018 Summer Institute on Critical Studies of Environmental Governance: "Metrics of sustainability: Critical studies of sites, practices, and performances of accountability in environmental governance"
12-16 July 2018, Canada
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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 us with your suggestions. |
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Discussion Groups |
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Discussion group Landscape Dynamics, 22 May |
The landscape is shaped by interacting physical, chemical and biological processes. These range from tectonic processes over millions of years to extreme events which change the landscape in a matter of seconds. The impact of humans on the landscape can be direct but also indirect, by affecting the natural processes. Therefore, understanding the landscape dynamics requires an interdisciplinary view ranging over multiple spatial and temporal scales. The discussion group ‘Landscape Dynamics’ focuses on the past, present and future dynamics of the physical landscape. During the proactive meetings, different themes will be introduced by a speaker and discussed using several propositions. Example of themes are feedbacks between soil, water, atmosphere and vegetation, the human factor in earth sciences or the issue of up- and downscaling in modelling natural processes. |
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R Users Discussion Group Meeting, 6 June |
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. The meetings are hands-on, so please try to run the code and prepare your questions prior to the meeting. Also, bring your laptop to the meeting. New group members are welcome and are kindly asked to contact us. |
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Upcoming Events |
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CML 40 years Symposium "Sustainability in a world ruled by populists", 28 June |
40 years ago, the Institute of Environmental Sciences was established. This year we will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Thursday the 28th of June 2018 –a beautiful day with a number of famous speakers and a festive symposium entitled “Sustainability in a post-fact society endangered by populists.” |
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International Conference Water science for impact, 16-18 October |
Water Science for Impact will focus on water quality and quantity in the broadest sense. The conference brings together leaders in science, policy, and the public and private sectors to examine water science from a multidisciplinary perspective. Water science is crucial to expanding our understanding of water quality and quantity related issues that humankind encounters. Such understanding is key towards identifying critical water-related challenges, developing novel solutions and implementing steps that contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals. We welcome contributions from both the natural and social sciences, as well as from stakeholders and decision makers and from private and public sectors.
Extended deadline for abstracts and special sessions: 18 May |
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2018 Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance: Governing Global Sustainability in a Complex World - Key Research Insights & New Research Directions, 5-8 November |
In this long-standing event series, the Utrecht Conference will have a special status: in 2018, the Earth System Governance Project’s current Science and Implementation Plan will be replaced by a new 10-year science plan; and new, enthusiastic leadership will take over the helm of our project. This conference will hence focus on harvesting the many findings of our community over the last decade, combined with a bold outlook to the future and the next scientific challenges for earth system governance research.
The 2018 Utrecht Conference will be organized around the core analytical problems that have structured the last decade of earth system governance research, while providing an outlook on emerging themes and new directions. |
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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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Other vacancies in the SENSE field |
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More vacancies |
During the month new vacancies are regularly posted on the SENSE vacancy page. |
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