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Research School for Socio-Economic and
Natural Sciences of the Environment |
| SENSE e-News |
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Newsletter July/August
30 June 2016 |
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Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2 °C ›› |
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Implementing the Paris Climate Agreement: New types of governance needed (by SENSE General Director Philipp Pattberg) ›› |
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Copernicus Institute (UU) Compensates its Carbon Emissions from Business ›› |
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Dutch plastic waste streams contaminated with banned toxic chemicals ›› |
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SENSE PhD candidate Sanne Muis (IVM, VU) publishes in Nature Communications ›› |
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WIMEK (WU) delegation visits Tsinghua University ›› |
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Flood-risk communications should be specific, tailored, and utilise social networks ›› |
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Circular economy: Measuring innovation in the chain ›› |
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Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period ›› |
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A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 5-7 October 2016 ›› |
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SENSE Writing Week, 31 October - 4 November 2016 ›› |
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Overview of PhD / postdoc courses July-September ›› |
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Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses ›› |
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Plant-Soil Interaction Discussion group, 13 July ›› |
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Inaugural address Niklas Höhne (WU): Limiting climate change to well below 2°C or 1.5°C: International efforts and options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, 1 September ›› |
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Workshop Regional air quality modelling with WRF-Chem: successes, opportunities and challenges, 15-16 September ›› |
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Overview of upcoming events ›› |
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Your input is requested for the National Phd Day! (29 October) ›› |
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Rachel Carson Environmental Thesis Prize 2016 ›› |
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Information meeting Veni, Vidi, Vici grant, 1 July ›› |
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NWO Visitor's Travel Grant ›› |
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China Exchange Programme KNAW ›› |
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Job NWO MaGW via Promovendi Netwerk Nederland - Junior Beleidsmedewerkers NWO gebied MaGW in het kader van het Professional PhD Program, deadline 16 July ›› |
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Tenure-track position Assistant Professor in Environmental Economics, VU Amsterdam, deadline 6 July ›› |
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Tenure Track position Engineering Smart Cities, University of Twente, deadline 9 July ›› |
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| Editorial |
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The SENSE Research School initiated the PhD Summer School “Smart Solutions for the Urban Metropole” together with Climate KIC and the University of Bologna, which will be held from 3-15 July 2016 in Amsterdam and Bologna, with 21 participants, including 5 SENSE PhD candidates. The PhD candidates will work in teams of three towards a business idea that is a solution for the urban metabolic challenges of Amsterdam or Bologna. The programme, includes lectures, site visits, workshops and coached group work to boost their creative and entrepreneurial skills.
From 3-8 July, the University of Reims is hosting a Summer School on the Governance of Socio-Ecological Systems (GOSES), which is organized in cooperation with SENSE. SENSE PhD candidates Elizabeth Haber, Sandra van der Hel and Jetske Vaas (all three from the Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University) will contribute to the programme. A fieldtrip will be organized, including the in situ observation of a socio-ecological system (Ardennes) and participatory research involving local scholars, practitioners and citizens. |
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| SENSE News |
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| Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2 °C |
| The Paris climate agreement aims at holding global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and to 'pursue efforts' to limit it to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To accomplish this, countries have submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) outlining their post-2020 climate action. In an article in Nature of 30 June researchers assess the effect of current INDCs on reducing aggregate greenhouse gas emissions, its implications for achieving the temperature objective of the Paris climate agreement, and potential options for overachievement. |
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| Implementing the Paris Climate Agreement: New types of governance needed (by SENSE General Director Philipp Pattberg) |
| COP 21 in Paris (i.e. the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) is widely regarded as a success, reaffirming that multilateralism works and that governments can overcome their short-term political differences to address global challenges. Having been present in Paris during the second week of negotiations myself, I can confirm from my position as an observer on the sidelines that Paris indeed re-established confidence in the problem-solving ability of international negotiations when many had already written off governments as agents of change. |
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| Copernicus Institute (UU) Compensates its Carbon Emissions from Business |
| For the fourth consecutive year, the Copernicus Institute has managed to decrease its total emissions from business travel. Each year, the Copernicus Institute makes an inventory of all business trips by plane, train or car, and calculates the resulting carbon emissions. This year’s inventory showed that the total emissions for 2015 decreased by 20% with respect to 2014, yielding 165 tonne CO2eq or 1.2 tonne CO2eq per person. About half of this reduction can be attributed to fewer long haul flights; the other half is due to increasing efficiency of aviation traffic. |
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| Dutch plastic waste streams contaminated with banned toxic chemicals |
Collaborative research from VU institute Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) and IVAM UvA BV, led by IVM researcher Heather Leslie, shows that plastic waste streams in the Netherlands are contaminated with persistent organic pollutants.
The study signifies the regulatory balancing act needed to both protect human health and promote resource efficiency. |
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| SENSE PhD candidate Sanne Muis (IVM, VU) publishes in Nature Communications |
 The paper "A global reanalysis storm surges and extreme sea levels" of Sanne Muis was published in Nature Communications of 27 June.
To encourage other people to use this new dataset, we have made the 1 in 100-year sea levels freely available. |
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| WIMEK (WU) delegation visits Tsinghua University |
In the first week of June a delegation of the WIMEK (WU) paid a visit to Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
In the year to come, both universities will work on the establishment of a Tsinghua-Wageningen Research Centre on Liveable Cities. This research centre (the name is still under negotiation of course) fits well in the ongoing activities within both universities, and the exchange of staff, PhDs as well as MSc-students would benefit both partners in a number of circumscribed respects. |
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| Flood-risk communications should be specific, tailored, and utilise social networks |
| It is increasingly important to communicate flood risk to the public. More and more people are moving to flood-prone areas and the risk of flooding is increasing under climate change. Effective communication campaigns can encourage those at risk to prepare themselves for flooding. However, campaigns often fail in their aims, and there has been little research into what makes a flood-risk communication strategy successful. |
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| Circular economy: Measuring innovation in the chain |
| How the progress of transition to a circular economy (CE transition) in product chains can be measured is an important question. PBL and Utrecht University cooperatively developed a framework for CE transitions in product chains and the role of innovation in the chains. The framework is applied to a number of cases. The type of required information to measure the progress of CE transition in product chains is thus established. |
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| Upcoming PhD Graduations |
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| Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period |
- Ingrid Miller
Proteomics as a tool to gain more insight into sub-lethal toxicological effects
7 July 2016, Wageningen University, Environmental Technology
- Xiaojing Wu
Clustering based approaches to the visual exploration of geo-referenced time series
7 July 2016, University of Twente, Department of Geo-information Processing
- Els Faassen
The neurotoxin BMAA in aquatic systems. Analysis, occurrence and effects
8 July 2016, Wageningen University, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management
- Peng Wang
Roots in the tundra. Relations between climate warming and roor biomass and implications for vegetation change and carbon dynamics
29 August 2016, Wageningen University, Nature Conservation and Plant Ecology
- Aritta Suwarno
Optimising land use in Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia: Modelling ecosystem benefits and land-use dynamics
2 September 2016, Wageningen University, Environmental Systems Analysis
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| Upcoming Courses |
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| A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 5-7 October 2016 |
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.
In addition, you will evaluate some examples where questions from society were translated into scientific research projects in terms of relevance and scientific validity with experienced researchers and other PhD students. |
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| SENSE Writing Week, 31 October - 4 November 2016 |
| During this week you can fully concentrate on writing an article without the distraction of every day practice. The writing week will take place in a comfortable environment where you can spend the night. The presence of other PhD students will provide motivation, support and social contacts. Additionally, an English writing coach will guide us through the writing process with tips&tricks, feedback sessions and individual advice. Each participant will receive information on how to prepare. |
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| Overview of PhD / postdoc courses July-September |
- Summer School on the Governance of Socio-Ecological Systems
3-8 July 2016, France
- Computational Social Science
10-17 July 2016, Italy
- Climate-Smart Agriculture - From fundamentals to application
21-26 August 2016, Wageningen
- PhD summer school on Sustainable Production Systems
29 August - 9 September 2016, Sweden
- Introduction to Hydrological Processes, Water Resources Management, and Aquatic Ecosystems (NEW)
29 August - 1 September 2016, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
- Hydrological and Hydrogeological Field Methods
6-8 September 2016, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
- ALTER-Net Summer School on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
7-17 September 2016, Peyresq, Alpes de Haute-Provence, France
- Modelling training course - A practical modelling course using the MERLIN-Expo tool for simulating exposure to chemicals in the environment
12-13 September 2016, UK
- Mapping Ecosystem Services
13-14 September 2016, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
- PhD summer school on Green Finance: Overcoming barriers to low-carbon investments
18-30 September 2016, Germany
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| Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses |
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| Discussion Groups |
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| Plant-Soil Interaction Discussion group, 13 July |
| The Plant and Soil Interactions discussion group offers a platform to discuss the current and cutting edge research in plant and soil science. Meetings are aimed at facilitating networking and collaboration between young scientists researching many aspects of how soil and plants interact. Topics of the meetings are related to plant and soil research and are chosen according to the current interests of the group, e.g. topics involving nutrient and carbon cycling, plant interactions with soil biota or connections between the above and belowground communities. Meetings have a varying format which is chosen to fit the topic: e.g. debate on experimental set ups and scientific methods used in plant and soil science, lectures and discussion with invited speakers, or critical review of current literature. We aim to create a place that facilitates the exchange of knowledge, experience and feedback between young researchers in plant and soil science. What do you want to discuss? |
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| Upcoming Events |
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| Inaugural address Niklas Höhne (WU): Limiting climate change to well below 2°C or 1.5°C: International efforts and options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, 1 September |
 Niklas Höhne will give his inaugural address on Thursday 1 September 2016 at 16.00 in the Aula of Wageningen University. The title of his inaugural address is "Limiting climate change to well below 2°C or 1.5°C: International efforts and options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
On 30 June his paper “Paris Agreement climate proposals need a boost to keep warming well below 2 °C” was published in Nature. |
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| Workshop Regional air quality modelling with WRF-Chem: successes, opportunities and challenges, 15-16 September |
On 15-16 September 2016 a nice workshop will be held in Wageningen about regional air quality modelling with WRF-Chem. It is intended for everybody with a keen interest in regional to urban (air quality) modelling and the use of WRF-Chem. This is a nice opportunity to meet peers and discuss challenges and opportunities! Experience with basic modelling, Fortran code and programming in a Unix environment is recommended. Participation will be free of charge and coffee/tea and lunch are included. Also, the attendees are requested to give a short pitch on their research during the workshop.
Registration deadline: 10 August |
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| Overview of upcoming events |
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- Resilient Cities 2016 - 7th Annual Global Forum on Urban Resilience and Adaptation
6-8 July 2016, Germany
- 4th International Conference on Spatial Ecology and Conservation
12-14 July 2016, UK
- Inaugural address Niklas Höhne (WU): Limiting climate change to well below 2°C or 1.5°C: International efforts and options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
1 September 2016, Wageningen
- Workshop Regional air quality modelling with WRF-Chem: successes, opportunities and challenges
15-16 September 2016, Wageningen
- Symposium Ontwikkelingen in luchtvaartlawaai
15 September 2016, Schiphol
- 5th European Environmental Evaluators Network Forum: Evaluation for better regulation in environment and climate policies – Lessons from research and practice
15-16 September 2016, Denmark
- Annual Conference on Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural and Natural Resource Management: Solidarity in a competing world - fair use of resources
18-21 September 2016, Austria
- CLIVAR Open Science Conference “Charting the course for climate and ocean research”
18-25 September 2016, China
- VVM Café - Medicijnenkringloop: de zorgsector aan zet!
21 September 2016, VVM Utrecht
- MedCLIVAR 2016 Conference: Learning from the past, perceiving the present, engaging for the future
26-30 September 2016, Greece
- Workshop Including Water Management in Large Scale Models
28-30 September 2016, France
- A Connected Ocean conference 2016: The challenge of observation data integration
11-13 October 2016, France
- 4th National eScience Symposium: Science in a Digital World
13 October 2016, Amsterdam
- VVM Café - Nut en noodzaak van agrarisch natuurbeheer
19 October 2016, VVM Utrecht
- National PhD Day of the PhD candidates Network of the Netherlands (PNN)
29 October 2016, Utrecht
- Flare Annual Meeting 2016
2-5 December 2016, UK
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| Full list of interesting upcoming events: |
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| Your input is requested for the National Phd Day! |
| Did you mark down 29 October yet in your agenda? The PhD candidates Network of the Netherlands (PNN), supported by AcademicTransfer, everybody that is working hard on obtaining a doctorate to come to Utrecht. Let us know what you like to see scheduled by clicking the link: http://nationalphdday.nl/call-for-ideas |
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| Rachel Carson Environmental Thesis Prize 2016 |
Are you or do you know someone who wrote a thesis in the field of environment and/or sustainable development? Participate in the Rachel Carson Environemental Thesis Prize 2016! The winner receives an amount of money and gets the opportunity to publish his/her thesis in the journal Milieu. The deadline for application is 15 July!
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| Information meeting Veni, Vidi, Vici grant, 1 July |
| On Friday 1 July NWO is organising an information meeting for researchers that want to apply for a Veni, Vidi or Vici grant. Practical information will be given and laureates, selection committee members and NWO coordinators will share their experiences. The morning programme is for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the afternoon programme is for the Natural Sciences, Engineering and Life Sciences. The meetings will be held in English. Registration is compulsory. |
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| NWO Visitor's Travel Grant |
| Researchers in the Netherlands can apply for a visitor's grant for highly qualified senior researchers from abroad who hold a PhD. With this grant these researchers can stay in the Netherlands for a maximum of four months. |
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| China Exchange Programme KNAW |
| Do you cooperate with researchers in China or would you like to? In that case the China Exchange Programme (CEP) of KNAW might be interesting for you. The CEP furthers mobility of researchers and enables the development of new scientific collaboration. The CEP can make the difference in developing long-term cooperation with China. |
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| Professional PhD Program vacancies |
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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. |
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| Job NWO MaGW via Promovendi Netwerk Nederland - Junior Beleidsmedewerkers NWO gebied MaGW in het kader van het Professional PhD Program, deadline 16 July |
| There are now several exciting vacancies for Dutch speakers within the PPP at NWO for junior policy officers for 0,8-1,0 fte for 6 months from 1 October 2016 to 1 April 2017 or from 1 January 2017 to 1 July 2017. Take this great opportunity for paid work experience during your PhD. |
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| Job vacancies |
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| Tenure-track position Assistant Professor in Environmental Economics, VU Amsterdam, deadline 6 July |
| The tenure track candidate will be encouraged to develop a largely externally funded research programme in her/his research field. The appointee is expected to teach and conduct research in support of the strong teaching and research base. Teaching involves courses in general environmental economics and in specialised courses on ecosystem services and natural capital for various BSc and MSc programmes (e.g. Environment and Resource Management MSc programme, Earth Sciences and Economics BSc). The candidate is expected to supervise BSc and MSc student projects. The candidate should show academic leadership, maintain a high publication output, and raise competitive research funding. On the longer term, the candidate is expected to build up a successful group around his/her field of expertise. |
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| Tenure Track position Engineering Smart Cities, University of Twente, deadline 9 July |
| By bringing together a range of innovative technologies, infrastructure, data management techniques and new modes of governance, smart cities promise to enhance urban sustainability, to increase prosperity, and to facilitate greater citizen participation in urban governance. Smart city developments are driven by big data collected from a wide range of sensors, e.g. mobile phones, internet of things. Big data is shaping our cities and society and thus providing many research opportunities. This TT position focuses on research related to smart city development and links the civil engineering research fields transport, water management and infrastructure management to other relevant fields such as computer science and governance studies. |
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