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Research School for Socio-Economic and
Natural Sciences of the Environment |
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Newsletter June 2018
31 May 2018 |
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Creating impact for Sustainable Development Goals? ›› |
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Opiniestuk Maarten Hajer (UU) in NRC: "Kom uit het laboratorium en werk aan 't goede leven" ›› |
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Utrecht University is helping municipalities find alternatives to natural gas in houses ›› |
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Forest-rainfall cascades buffer against drought across the Amazon ›› |
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Jetske Vaas (UU): When science gives you lemon trees ›› |
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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 June - August ›› |
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Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses ›› |
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B-Wise: Bioinformatics@Wageningen Seminar Series, 5 June ›› |
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R Users Discussion Group Meeting, 6 June ›› |
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International Conference Critical Perspectives on Governance by Sustainable Development Goals: Water, Food and Climate, 25-26 June ›› |
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CML 40 years Symposium "Sustainability in a world ruled by populists", 28 June ›› |
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Overview of upcoming events ›› |
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Information and network event for NWA-SDG route, 6 June ›› |
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National postdoc prize, submission deadline 1 July ›› |
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NWO Network event for women in science, 27 September ›› |
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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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| Creating impact for Sustainable Development Goals? |
Most PhD candidates in SENSE are committed to progress in science and at the same time to progress in society. Although these two commitments are strongly related, it is not always easy to fully see or to actually realize the potential connections between the two. Here too, the road to success is called ‘trying and training’.
An excellent opportunity for training these competencies has been organized for your participation: ‘International Conference – Critical Perspectives on Governance by Sustainable Development Goals: Water, Food and Climate’ (Amsterdam, 25-26 June). We highly recommend your timely registration and also we believe it would be an excellent chance to develop your skills and competencies if you enter the POSTER COMPETITION.
Can your own PhD research have an impact for the Sustainable Development Goals? In many cases, the answer will be: yes indeed. Please, join us in this opportunity to try out your own specified answers to this question – the benefit for you will be ‘trying and training’, on your road to success!
If you register and participate, you will also have the opportunity to meet many junior and senior researchers with similar commitments as you have. Developing your network can be a highly profitable investment in your future: for one thing, it could lead to new (professional) friendships.
In this international conference, you will be able to learn from a number of senior researchers in SENSE. For example, dr. Pieter van Beukering (IVM, VU) and prof. Eddy Moors (IHE, Delft) will both deliver a keynote lecture. It will be great if we can meet you there too.
Finally, we want to remind everyone that SENSE always aims to provide service to you all – if you would for some reason prefer not to receive this newsletter, then you can find instructions at the bottom of every edition. Let’s make SENSE together!
Ad van Dommelen |
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| SENSE News |
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| Opiniestuk Maarten Hajer (UU) in NRC: "Kom uit het laboratorium en werk aan 't goede leven" |
 Ingenieurs moeten niet alleen studie doen naar het klimaat, ze hebben ook de plicht om samen met sociologen te zoeken naar uitvoering van hun aanbevelingen, betoogde Maarten Hajer (UU) op 30 april in NRC Handelsblad.
Een wedstrijd tussen goed nieuws en slechte tijdingen; zo kun je het nieuws over milieu en klimaat typeren. Aan de ene kant de groei van zon- en windenergie, dat we windparken zonder subsidie gaan bouwen op de Noordzee. Aan de andere kant breken we warmterecord na warmterecord, smelt het ijs op Antarctica en tonen berekeningen aan dat beloofde emissiebeperkingen van het Parijse klimaatakkoord niet toereikend zijn om binnen het 2-graden-doel te blijven.
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| Utrecht University is helping municipalities find alternatives to natural gas in houses |
Utrecht University collaborates with W/E Adviseurs and the Dutch Renewable Energy Foundation (Nederlandse Vereniging Duurzame Energie, NVDE) to help municipalities develop smart road maps to find alternatives to natural gas in neighbourhoods. Energy researcher Robert Harmsen is involved in the SmartTrans Energy Top Sector project.
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| Forest-rainfall cascades buffer against drought across the Amazon |
 Tree transpiration in the Amazon may enhance rainfall for downwind forests. SENSE PhD Arie Staal (WU) published in Nature Climate Change how forest-rainfall cascades buffer the effects of drought and reveal a mechanism by which deforestation can compromise the resilience of the Amazon forest system in the face of future climatic extremes. On 22 June Arie Staal will defend his thesis on "Resilience of tropical forest and savanna: bridging theory and observation" at Wageningen University.
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| Blogposts |
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| Jetske Vaas (UU): When science gives you lemon trees |
 Oh no! The goats ate one of the lemon trees! Or that’s what it looks like on the picture, with the fence undone and the seedling nowhere to be found. The goats are the usual suspects when it comes to vanished vegetation, and the prolonged dry period on Saba has made them even more devastating than usual. Very sad for the little tree, and the facebook post reaps many frustrated comments from Sabans. I imagine Raymond's frustration, who waters them diligently everyday, when finding this one morning. And I am definitely disappointed myself as well. But from a research perspective the project just took an interesting turn: devoured lemon trees are interesting data!
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| Upcoming PhD Graduations |
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| Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period |
- Liqin Zuo
Modelling and analysis of fine sediment transport in wave-current bottom boundary layer
4 June 2018, IHE, Coastal Systems and Engineering and Port Development
- Joël Schröter
Sheared convective boundary layers: turbulence kinetic energy and entrainment dynamics
5 June 2018, Wageningen University, Meteorology and Air Quality
- David Eitelberg
An exploration of human-environment interactions that shape the earth’s surface
12 June 2018, VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Spatial Analysis and Decision Support
- Philipp Grötsch
Environmental forcing of aquatic ecosystem variability – a matter of perspective
13 June 2018, VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM), Spatial Analysis and Decision Support
- Jouke Dykstra
Desalination with porous electrodes mechanisms of ion transport and adsorption
15 June 2018, Wageningen University, Environmental Technology
- Sierk de Jong
Green Horizons - On the production costs, climate impact and future supply of renewable jet fuels
15 June 2018, Utrecht University, Energy and Resources
- Arie Staal
Resilience of tropical forest and savanna: bridging theory and observation
22 June 2018, Wageningen University, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management
- Harry Barnes-Dabban
Greening African ports: Environmental governance transformations in a network society
22 June 2018, Wageningen University, Environmental Policy
- Benjamin Osei Botwe
Sediments in the Tema Harbour (Ghana): chemical pollution and sedimentation rates
29 June 2018, IHE Delft, Pollution Prevention and Control
- Hassana Ibrahim Mustapha
Treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater with constructed wetlands
29 June 2018, IHE Delft, Pollution Prevention and Control
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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 June - August 2018 |
- 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
- Ecological Networks and Coexistence (NEW)
21-22 June 2018, UFZ Germany
- Master Classes Adaptation Futures 2018
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
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
- Advances in Environmental Life Cycle Modelling
6-17 August 2018, Nijmegen
- Summer school "NEXT - Nature-Based Solutions for Smart Cities"
15-26 August 2018, Belarus
- Crash Course in Experimental Economics
20-25 August 2018, Amsterdam
- ALTER-Net Summer School "Biodiversity, ecosystem services: science and its impact on policy and society"
22 August - 1 September 2018, Peyresq, Alpes de Haute-Provence, France
- Summer School: Earth system variability throught time
26-31 August 2018, Switzerland
- Introduction to Ecometabolimics for Ecologists (NEW)
27-31 August 2018, Germany
- Summer school Risk Analysis and Risk Management in Agriculture: Updates on Modelling and Applications
27-31 August 2018, Wageningen
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| Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses |
- Mapping Ecosystem Services
18-19 September 2018, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
- Ethics in Environmental Research: Arguments for the Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
20 September 2018, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
- PCDI course Employability Outside Academia
28 September, 19 October and 16 November 2018 (all Fridays; spare date: 14 December), Utrecht
- Understanding and Managing Technology Conflicts – A course for natural scientists
1 October 2018, UFZ Germany
- Risk Assessment
22-26 October 2018, Wageningen
- Handling and Analyzing Geospatial Data in R
5-6 November 2018, UFZ Germany
- Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment
4-8 March 2019, Delft
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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| B-Wise: Bioinformatics@Wageningen Seminar Series, 5 June |
In Wageningen, a large number of researchers routinely apply state-of-the-art bioinformatics tools or develop novel algorithms to analyze their data. Through B-Wise, the Bioinformatics@Wageningen Seminar Series, we aim to bring people together on a regular basis to exchange ideas, discuss problems, present our research and learn from each other.
Each first Tuesday of the month we meet over lunch (starting at 12.00), followed by two short scientific presentations on bioinformatics research in various groups. |
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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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| International Conference Critical Perspectives on Governance by Sustainable Development Goals: Water, Food and Climate, 25-26 June |
The Centre for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) hosts and brings together partners at UvA and other locations in the Netherlands, which work on sustainable development.
In 2016, the CSDS organized a first Conference on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015. In 2018, it is organizing a Conference that offers critical perspectives on the progress and implementation of the SDGs.
Call for poster competition open to BA/BSc, MA/MSc and PhD students and researchers who attend the conference
Did you just finalize your thesis and come up with some amazing findings? Does your research deserve a broader audience than your supervisor, peers and parents? Participate in our poster competition and let the world know about your research! The winners will get the opportunity to present his/ her research at the CSDS and SDGNederland websites and will receive a certificate. We hope to see you at the CSDS conference!’
Deadline for poster submission: 15 June 2018 |
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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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| Overview of upcoming events |
| Recently announced: |
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| Full list of interesting upcoming events: |
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| Information and network event for NWA-SDG route, 6 June |
In 2018, an extra 70 million euros will be made available for the Dutch National Research Agenda. The call for proposals will be published on 24 May. An information and network event on this cal for the route 'Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for inclusive global development' is planned in the morning of 6 June at NWO.
During this meeting we elaborate on the call and the SDG route, but the main focus will be to meet parties that are just as well eager develop new innovative approaches to address the the wicked problems of inclusive global development. |
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| National postdoc prize, submission deadline 1 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 and assistant professors 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 2018, the prize will be awarded to a postdoc in social sciences and humanities.
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 five years previously from a Dutch university.
Nominations may be submitted up to and including 1 July 2018. |
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| NWO Network event for women in science, 27 September |
| The NWO Domain Science attaches considerable value to diversity in science and to strengthening all of the talent present within science. NWO Science is contributing to this by organising the network event Insight Out on Thursday, 27 September 2018. The theme of Insight Out 2018 is: Connecting women in science. For example, how can you find each other so that you can collaborate and how can you make optimum use of your own and each other's networks? These are two key questions during this second edition of the event. The programme offers inspiring stories from role models and experts, including professor of astrophysics Anna Watts, as well as a range of workshops and plenty of networking opportunities. The day will be hosted by Ans Hekkenberg, head of communication at CWI (the national research institute for mathematics and computer science). Insight Out is the number one event for sharing insights and strengthening connections with fellow scientists. So make sure you are there! |
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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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