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Research School for Socio-Economic and
Natural Sciences of the Environment |
SENSE e-News |
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Newsletter March 2018
06 March 2018 |
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IVM-VU and the Faculty of Religion and Theology announce 2018 senior fellow in Ethics of the Anthropocene ›› |
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Fossil fuel subsidy removal reduces greenhouse gas emissions, but less than hoped for ›› |
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Ineke Roeling (UU): Truly Ecology Across Borders ›› |
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Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period ›› |
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Aquatic Ecology: Robustness of aquatic ecosystems in the face of global change, 18-23 March ›› |
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A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 28-30 March ›› |
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Utrecht Winter School on Earth System Governance 2018, 31 October - 4 November ›› |
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Overview of PhD / postdoc courses March - May ›› |
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Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses ›› |
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R Users Discussion Group Meeting, 14 March ›› |
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Water Scarcity workshop series: Monitoring droughts and Water Scarcity, 27 March ›› |
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SENSE workshop Transdisciplinarity for the Sustainable Development Goals, 6 April ›› |
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Data quality and data visualisation in sustainability science - PBL Young and SENSE Workshop series, 20 April ›› |
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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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Register now! |
What is in it for you? This question is always valid of course, when the new SENSE newsletter appears in your mailbox. The answer is that the larger SENSE community has a range of opportunities to offer: depending on your interests and the phase of your research, there may in fact be quite a lot in it for you!
A Dutch saying has it that ‘you can bring a horse to the water, but you cannot make it drink..’ Perhaps something like this applies to PhD candidates also: we can offer a lot of excellent opportunities, but it is really up to your own initiative and responsibility to join our meetings (or not).
In the next few weeks, the following three challenging SENSE meetings are coming up of which it is safe to assume that each SENSE PhD candidate should be able to find at least one of these three meetings highly appealing and related to their own interests. Of course, the choice of ‘which one’ (or two?) is entirely up to your own evaluation and preference: you are the (race) horse here, making up your own mind!
On Tuesday afternoon 27 March (in Amsterdam), a SENSE workshop will take place entitled: ‘Monitoring droughts and Water Scarcity’. This is the third meeting in a successful workshop series, organized at IVM, VU. For details and registration, check out: http://27March2018.sense.nl
On Friday 6 April (in Utrecht), a SENSE workshop organized by members of the SENSE Research Committee will take place under the title: ‘Transdisciplinarity for Sustainable Development Goals’. For details and registration, go to: http://6April2018.sense.nl
On Friday 20 April (in The Hague), a new SENSE workshop series will be organized as a co-production of SENSE and the young researchers of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL Young): ‘Data Quality and Data Visualisation in Sustainability Science’. For details and registration, see: http://20April2018.sense.nl
Considering this choice of opportunities, we suggest you make up your mind and ‘Register now!’ – so we can meet you in at least one of these three highly relevant and inspiring SENSE meetings: Let’s make sense together!
Ad van Dommelen |
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SENSE News |
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IVM-VU and the Faculty of Religion and Theology announce 2018 senior fellow in Ethics of the Anthropocene |
Professor Ernst M. Conradie from the University of the Western Cape in South Africa has been appointed as Senior Fellow in the Ethics of the Anthropocene Program for 2018.His term at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam will run for two periods in May and June 2018 and November 2018 to January 2019. The Ethics of the Anthropocene Fellowship is a collaborative initiative of the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) and the Faculty of Theology. It is intended to foster research projects at the interface of ethics, religion and global environmental change. Annual fellowships are awarded alternately to an established Senior scholar and to two or three promising PhD-Candidates who are in the process of specializing in this burgeoning field.
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Fossil fuel subsidy removal reduces greenhouse gas emissions, but less than hoped for |
Ending fossil fuel subsidies would reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 1-5%, according to a paper published in Nature. Most of this impact would be achieved in fossil fuel exporting countries. In most other regions subsidies are less and ending them would thus deliver a smaller impact.
Fossil fuel subsidies amount to hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide and removing them has been held up as a key answer to climate change mitigation. A recent study by Jessica Jewell (IIASA, Austria) together with colleagues of different institutes, including Detlef van Vuuren and David Gernaat of PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and Utrecht University confirms that ending subsidies reduces emissions. The study, however, also concluded that it is not the silver bullet many had hoped.
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Blogposts |
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Ineke Roeling (UU): Truly Ecology Across Borders |
Last December I went to the Ecology Across Borders Conference, held in Ghent (Belgium). It was organized by the Ecological Societies of Britain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Flanders as well as the European Ecological Federation. Conferences are always good places to present your work, meet lots of new people and develop new ideas. Unexpectedly, I ended up with both a poster presentation and an oral presentation. For the latter I received a Highly Commended Student Talk Prize.
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Upcoming PhD Graduations |
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Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period |
- Arnand Vetrivel
Automatic information extraction from remote sensing images and 3D point cloud for building damage assessment
9 March 2018, University of Twente, Department of Earth Observation Science
- Paul Roncken
Shades of Sublime, a design for landscape experiences; as an instrument in the making of meaning
14 March 2018, Wageningen University, Landscape Architecture
- Joep Schyns
Sustainable and efficient allocation of limited blue and green water resources
15 March 2018, University of Twente, Water Management Group
- Seleshi Getahun Yalew
Integrated modeling of land and water resources in two African catchments
19 March 2018, IHE, Hydrology and Water Resources
- Zhi Yang
Quantitative assessment of groundwater and surface water interactions in the Hailiutu River Basin, China
26 March 2018, IHE, Hydrology and Water Resources
- Zoran Steinmann
Reducing uncertainty and redundancy in environmental footprinting
26 March 2018, Radboud University Nijmegen, Environmental Science
- Anuar Bin Md. Ali
Flood inundation modelling and hazard mapping under uncertainty in the Sungai Johor Basin, Malaysia
26 March 2018, UNESCO-IHE, Hydroinformatics
- Tom Nolte
Fate and effects of nanoparticles and ionisable organic compounds: at the interface of theory and experimentation
28 March 2018, Radboud University Nijmegen, Environmental Science
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Upcoming Courses |
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Aquatic Ecology: Robustness of aquatic ecosystems in the face of global change, 18-23 March |
Aquatic ecosystems play a crucial role in human health and well-being as a source of drinking water and food, recreation, and tourism. Aquatic ecosystems, however, are under severe anthropogenic pressure such as eutrophication, inorganic pollution, acidification, invasive species, extraction of upstream water, and climate change.
In this 5-day course we will provide a multifaceted overview of the science on aquatic ecosystems in the Anthropocene and the means by which its robustness can be restored or even improved. |
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A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 28-30 March |
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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Utrecht Winter School on Earth System Governance 2018, 31 October - 4 November |
The Winter School will focus on five themes that form the core focus of the new earth system governance research agenda: 1. Anticipation and Imagination; 2. Adaptiveness and purposeful change; 3. Architecture and Agency; 4. Democracy and Power; 5. Justice and Allocation.
Application deadline: 16 April 2018 |
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Overview of PhD / postdoc courses March - May 2018 |
- Life History Theory
11-16 March 2018, Schiermonnikoog
- Modern Methods and Applications for Isotope Analysis of Light Elements
12-15 March 2018, UFZ Leipzig, Germany
- Research Methodology I: From topic to proposal (NEW)
13 March - 8 May 2018, Wageningen
- Aquatic Ecology: Robustness of aquatic ecosystems in the face of global change
18-23 March 2018, Ede
- Mathematical Models in Ecology and Evolution
19 March - 30 June 2018, Groningen
- Visual research methods
22 March - 12 April 2018, Wageningen
- A1 SENSE Introductory Course
28-30 March 2018, Apeldoorn
- Frontiers in Microbial Ecology: Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of Microbial-Host Interactions
8-13 April 2018, Schiermonnikoog
- Practice based approaches & environmental governance
9-10 April 2018, Wageningen
- ReMaT - Research Management Training for Early-Stage-Researchers
16-17 April 2018, Germany
- Polar Prediction School 2018
17-27 April 2018, Sweden
- PCDI course Employability Outside Academia (NEW)
20 April, 25 May, 22 June (all Fridays), Utrecht
- Modelling population dynamics with Physiologically Structured Population Models (PSPM)
29 April - 4 May 2018, Ede
- Summerschool: Resilience of living systems – from fundamental concepts to interdisciplinary applications
29 April - 4 May 2018, Lunteren
- Basic Statistics
8-16 May 2018, Wageningen
- NCAS Atmospheric Measurement Summer School
14-25 May 2018, Scotland, UK
- STEPS Centre Summer School
14-25 May 2018, Brighton, UK
- Introduction to R for statistical analysis
17-18 May 2018, Wageningen
- Survival Analysis (NEW)
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 (NEW)
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
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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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R Users Discussion Group Meeting, 14 March |
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. |
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Water Scarcity workshop series: Monitoring droughts and Water Scarcity, 27 March |
To register, please send your name and institute to: sensewaterworkshop@gmail.com. |
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Upcoming Events |
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SENSE workshop Transdisciplinarity for the Sustainable Development Goals, 6 April |
How to further transdisciplinarity and co-production of knowledge in progressing the Sustainable Development Goals?
Within the context of a graduate school it is challenging to provide a setting in which post-graduates, focussed on a single PhD topic, can develop the broad, transdisciplinary competencies that are needed to align knowledge with action. This workshop will, therefore, explore how to complement discipline-specific skills with a transdisciplinary approach needed for more sustainable air, land and water management.
The intention of this workshop is to explore tangible next steps for future actions together, whether this be projects, or further exchanges of ideas and opportunities. |
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Data quality and data visualisation in sustainability science - PBL Young and SENSE Workshop series, 20 April |
With key note lectures on (1) Data Quality: Unlock data possibilities -- How to get more out of data collection, analysis and inference, and (2) Data communication: Data visualisation and infographics at PBL -- From research to design. And with break out groups about (1) Data Quality Issues Anonymous, and (2) Bring Your Own Graph. |
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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. |
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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.
Deadline for paper abstracts: 19 March 2018 |
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Overview of upcoming events |
Recently announced: |
- Planetary Justice Workshop
8-9 March 2018, Utrecht
- Documentary Down to earth
28 March 2018, Utrecht
- Jan Terlouw: 'Jong geleerd, oud gedaan'
18 April 2018, VVM
- 2nd biannual conference of the Political Ecology Network (POLLEN): Political Ecology, the Green Economy, and Alternative Sustainabilities
20-22 June 2018, Norway
- UArctic Congress
3-7 September 2018, Finland
- sfécologie 2018, International Conference on Ecological Sciences
22-25 October 2018, France
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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 |
- Post-doctoral scientist position Decadal variability of the Greenland Ice sheet Surface Mass balance in link with the Arctic Amplification and recent atmospheric circulation changes, ULiège, Belgium
Application deadline: 20 March 2018
- Post-doctoral scientist position Decadal variability of the Greenland ice sheet and its contribution to the predictability of the atmosphere-ocean-ice sheet system, VUB, Belgium
- Post-doctoral scientist position Sensitivity of the ice sheet/ice shelf system on decadal variability and predictability of the atmosphere-ocean-ice sheet system, ULB, Belgium
Application deadline: 20 March 2018
- Post-doctoral scientist position Decadal variability of the Southern Ocean and its contribution to the predictability of the atmosphere-ocean-ice sheet system, UCL, Belgium
Application deadline: 20 March 2018
- Scientist for Regional Climate modelling in the Danish Climate Atlas, Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut
Application deadline: 27 March 2018
- Postdoctoral Research at IIASA
Next application deadline: 1 April 2018
- Associate Professor of Professional Practice/Professor of Professional Practice Sustainability Management, Columbia University, USA
Open Until Filled
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More vacancies |
During the month new vacancies are regularly posted on the SENSE vacancy page. |
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