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Research School for Socio-Economic and
Natural Sciences of the Environment
SENSE e-News
    Newsletter October 2018
01 October 2018
Table of contents
Editorial
Multiple choices for your competencies development ››
SENSE News
Publication of "The Anthropocene Debate and Political Science" ›› 
Frequently asked questions about The Ocean Cleanup ›› 
Climate change threatens the Zambian timber industry ›› 
Professor Ernst Worrell (UU) 's vision for the energy transition: Towards zero greenhouse gas emissions: energy efficiency and demand reduction key ›› 
Insectageddon: are EU pesticide authorisation regulations good enough? ›› 
The urban “wind island effect” ›› 
Upcoming PhD Graduations
Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period ››
Upcoming Courses
Summer School Archetype analysis in sustainability research, 8-12 October ››
A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 17-19 October ››
Ecology for non-ecologists, 26 November - 19 December ››
Overview of PhD / postdoc courses October-December 2018 ››
Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses ››
Discussion groups
B-Wise: Bioinformatics@Wageningen Seminar Series, 2 October ››
R Users Discussion Group Meeting, 23 October ››
Plant-Soil Interaction Discussion group, 30 October ››
Upcoming Events
International Conference Water science for impact, 16-18 October ››
Symposium "Earth Futures", 19 October ››
2018 Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance: Governing Global Sustainability in a Complex World - Key Research Insights & New Research Directions, 5-8 November ››
NCGG8: International Symposium on Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases, 12-14 June 2019 ››
Overview of upcoming events ››
Tips
The new version of the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity ››
Should I aim for multiple co-authorships to extend my publication list? ››
Job vacancies
Vacancies at SENSE Partners ››
Other vacancies in the SENSE field ››
SENSE headlines
The new version of the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity
Frequently asked questions about The Ocean Cleanup
Summer School Archetype analysis in sustainability research, 8-12 October
A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 17-19 October
Symposium "Earth Futures", 19 October
Editorial
Multiple choices for your competencies development
All SENSE PhD candidates have their own preferred trajectories. And part of all these different trajectories is the ambition to develop your PhD competencies in a challenging and appealing way. This SENSE e-News again offers you a number of choices to consider in your pursuit for professional and personal development. Let me highlight just a few, without taking away any relevance from all other options.

For those of you who like academic reading as an effective means to ‘meet’ many expert researchers, there is a highly topical new book edited by the SENSE General Director, Prof Philipp Pattberg (IVM) on “The Anthropocene Debate and Political Science” (see https://www.routledge.com/The-Anthropocene-Debate-and-Political-Science/Hickmann-Partzsch-Pattberg-Weiland/p/book/9780815386148). Perhaps it could even be an idea to read (Chapters of) this book in a SENSE PhD reading club? If such an idea appeals to you and if you would like some support in getting this off the ground, please do not hesitate to let me know!

Another excellent example of the multiple choices on your menu for meeting relevant experts and ideas, is the upcoming 1-day Symposium on “Earth Futures” organized by Dr Aarti Gupta (WUR) and others – including four themes which are highly challenging to all of us (see https://www.wur.nl/en/article/Friday-19-October-2018-Symposium-Earth-Futures.htm).

Or perhaps you want to consider putting courses offered by our Swedish fellow research school ECOS (Ecology and Society) on your list of development? Our Swedish colleagues have heartily invited you to join, such as for example in their upcoming course on: “Ecology for Non-Ecologists” (see http://www.sense.nl/upcomingcourses/10894812/Ecology-for-non-ecologists).

Other options for your personal and professional development are listed below in this SENSE e-News, please consider. And finally (‘last but not least’) there is one opportunity which can hardly be called an ‘option’ (also since it is ‘compulsory’): the upcoming SENSE A1 course which takes place on 17-19 October 2018 in Soest (FINAL opportunity to register is TODAY or early this week, only few places left – see http://www.sense.nl/upcomingcourses/10849887/A1-SENSE-Introductory-Course).

All in all, perhaps it seems very suitable to consider the general name which is often used for the month of October... Harvest month!
   
Let’s make SENSE together! 

Ad van Dommelen
SENSE News
Publication of "The Anthropocene Debate and Political Science"
Anthropocene has become an environmental buzzword. It denotes a new geological epoch that is human‐dominated. As mounting scientific evidence reveals, humankind has fundamentally altered atmospheric, geological, hydrological, biospheric, and other Earth system processes to an extent that the risk of an irreversible system change emerges. Human societies must therefore change direction and navigate away from critical tipping points in the various ecosystems of our planet. This hypothesis has kicked off a debate not only on the geoscientific definition of the Anthropocene era, but increasingly also in the social sciences.
Edited by Thomas Hickmann, Lena Partzsch, Philipp Pattberg (General Director of SENSE), Sabine Weiland
Read more  ››
Frequently asked questions about The Ocean Cleanup

Wageningen Marine Research is committed to long-term research of plastic litter and its impacts on marine wildlife. From that background, the media and public often ask our opinion of The Ocean Cleanup project by Boyan Slat, which aims to clean up plastic from the world's oceans. Marine researchers Jan Andries van Franeker and SENSE PhD candidate Suse Kühn (WU) answer the most frequently-asked questions.
Read more  ››
Climate change threatens the Zambian timber industry
Climate change reduces the growth of the Mukusi trees (also known as Zambezi teak), which are Zambia’s main hardwood-timber source. The threat is caused by increasing temperatures and less rainfall. New research by Justine Ngoma, SENSE PhD student at Wageningen University, and colleagues on annual growth rings shows a clear relationship between climate and the annual growth of these important Zambian trees. The research is published in the scientific journal Dendrochronologia.
Read more  ››
Professor Ernst Worrell (UU) 's vision for the energy transition: Towards zero greenhouse gas emissions: energy efficiency and demand reduction key
How can we reach zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050? According to Professor Ernst Worrell, a completely sustainable energy supply is a major challenge. This is in large part due to a potential lack of raw materials if energy demand keeps rising. Solutions such as Carbon Capture and Storage may not be rolled out in time. We must therefore first focus on increasing the economy's resource and energy efficiency, and reduce demand as much as possible.
Read more  ››
Insectageddon: are EU pesticide authorisation regulations good enough?

The newly revealed scale of losses to all insect species has prompted warnings of insectageddon, with profound ecological and human impacts. Utrecht University’s Jeroen van der Sluijs was invited to speak at the European Parliament PEST Committee about why we should care about pesticides use and what needs to change in European regulations.
Read more  ››
The urban “wind island effect”
Cities have complex microclimates that can vary from street to street. In order to maintain quality of life in cities, it is important that the dynamics behind these microclimates is understood, so that they can be accounted for urban planning and design. A great deal is already known about the urban heat island effect, but new research is now being done on the urban wind island effect.

SENSE PhD candidate Arjan Droste, Gert-Jan Steeneveld, and Bert Holtslag from the Meteorology and Air Quality Section of Wageningen University examined the difference in wind patterns between urban and rural environments.
Read more  ››
Upcoming PhD Graduations
Overview of PhD graduations upcoming period
  • Ratna Dewi
    Multitemporal image analysis for monitoring fuzzy shorelines
    4 October 2018, University of Twente, Department of Earth Observation Science
     
  • Adish Khezri
    Climate adaptation services: Integrating land information to support mountain communities
    5 October 2018, University of Twente, Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Geo-information Management
     
  • Frank Pierie
    How to measure and optimize the sustainability of complex (renewable) energy production pathways: Applied to farm scale biogas production pathways
    5 October 2018, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Center for Energy and Environmental Studies
       
  • Ingrid Super
    Understanding the urban carbon budget
    11 October 2018, Wageningen University, Meteorology and Air Quality
       
  • Abiodun Jegede
    Optimization of mixing in a Chinese dome digester for tropical regions
    15 October 2018, Wageningen University, Environmental Technology
     
  • Marcelle van der Waals
    Degradation of fuel components
    18 October 2018, Wageningen University, Microbiology
     
  • Yvonne Mos
    Magnetite crystallization through oxidation and bioreduction: Processes for iron recovery from groundwater
    19 October 2018, Wageningen University, Environmental Technology
     
  • Célia Martins Bento
    Glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) behavior in loess soils and off-site transport risk assessment
    22 October 2018, Wageningen University, Soil Physics and Land Management
     
  • Chimere Ohajinwa
    Environmental and health impact of informal e-waste recycling
    23 October 2018, University of Leiden
     
  • Joop Kroes
    Soil hydrological modelling and sustainable agricultural crop production at multiple scales
    25 October 2018, Wageningen University, Soil Physics and Land Management
     
  • Solomon Tarfasa Faro
    Using discrete choice experiments to inform environmental policy in a developing country context: case studies from Ethiopia
    30 October 2018, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Environmental Economics
     
  • Bastian Hornung
    Interactive functional networks in microbiota
    1 November 2018, Wageningen University, Microbiology
     
More upcoming graduations ››
Upcoming Courses
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.
Read more ››
A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 17-19 October
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.
Last minute opportunity (only few places open).
Read more ››
Ecology for non-ecologists, 26 November - 19 December
Basic course in ecology for multidisciplinary PhD students with a background in other disciplines. The course covers three main topics:
  1. Populations, communities and ecosystems (1.5 ECTS),
  2. Resources, competition and predation (1.5 ECTS), and
  3. conservation ecology (2 ECTS)
All in an intensive week in Umeå (26-30 November 2018), self-study and the presentation of findings in a final symposium in Umeå (18-19 December 2018).
Read more ››
Overview of PhD / postdoc courses October-December 2018
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.
More upcoming courses ››
Discussion groups
B-Wise: Bioinformatics@Wageningen Seminar Series, 2 October
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.
Read more ››
R Users Discussion Group Meeting, 23 October
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.
Read more ››
Plant-Soil Interaction Discussion group, 30 October
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?
Read more ››
Upcoming Events
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.
Read more ››
Symposium "Earth Futures", 19 October
A unique 1-day symposium that brings together WUR researchers and internationally renowned speakers to debate earth system transformations, from both natural and social science perspectives. We focus on four key themes in plenary presentations during the course of the day: the Anthropocene, Inequality, Biosphere-Technosphere and Earth Futures. In each plenary session, three invited speakers (from WUR and abroad) offer their perspective on the current state of the art on each topic, and on novel forms of knowledge and engagement still required to cope with diverse earth futures.
Read more ››
2018 Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance: Governing Global Sustainability in a Complex World - Key Research Insights & New Research Directions, 5-8 November
The 2018 Utrecht Conference stands in a long tradition of global conferences on earth system governance, from Amsterdam (2007 and 2009) to Colorado (2011), Lund (2012), Tokyo (2013), Norwich (2014), Canberra (2015), Nairobi (2016), and Lund (2017). 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.
Read more ››
NCGG8: International Symposium on Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases, 12-14 June 2019
Non-CO2 greenhouse gases include many substances, such as methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), fluorocarbons (CFCs, HFCs, SF6, etc), black carbon, aerosols, and tropospheric ozone (O3). These contribute significantly to climate forcing. Reducing non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions is often more cost-effective than reducing CO2 emissions.
The scope of NCGG8 will be global challenges, and local solutions.
Abstract submission deadline: 1 December 2018
Read more ››
Overview of upcoming events
Recently announced:
Full list of interesting upcoming events:
See SENSE website ››
Tips
The new version of the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity

On 14 September a new version of the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity was published. Recently many national scientific organisations worked together intensively to thoroughly amend and expand the Code of Conduct that has been in use since 2004. This amendment process, which included a public consultation, was led by a committee chaired by Prof. Keimpe Algra.
The new version of the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity enters into force on 1 October 2018. Committee chair Prof. Keimpe Algra says, “Research integrity is essential if research is to be conducted properly. This new Code of Conduct ensures that the Netherlands keeps up with international developments regarding research integrity. I am proud that we have drawn up a Code of Conduct that applies to fundamental, applied, and practice-oriented research. This new Code of Conduct describes clear standards that researchers in many research organizations can apply to their daily practices”.

Compared with the previous version, a number of striking elements of the new Code of Conduct are as follows:

  • The new Code of Conduct is written in such a way that it can apply to both public and public-private scientific and scholarly research in the Netherlands.
  • The Code of Conduct specifically allows for collaboration and multidisciplinary approaches, as it takes into account the differences between different institutions. The Code of Conduct defines five principles of research integrity and 61 standards for good research practices and duties of care for the institutions.
  • The institutions’ duties of care are new additions to this Code of Conduct. With these, the research organizations show that they are responsible for providing a working environment that promotes and safeguards good research practices.
  • Moreover, the new Code of Conduct for Research Integrity distinguishes between research misconduct, questionable research practices, and minor shortcomings.
  • The final chapter describes how an institution must address potential research misconduct.
  • On the one hand, the Code of Conduct grants institutions adequate scope to deliver a balanced verdict regarding potential research misconduct, while on the other hand it explicitly states the criteria that play a role in such a scenario.

The final point clearly shows how the Code of Conduct should be viewed: as a helping hand that researchers and institutions can and will apply themselves. Committee member Prof. Lex Bouter says, “This Code of Conduct is a way for participating organizations to demonstrate that integrity is an essential part of their research practice. We want researchers to be able to work in an open environment in which they feel responsible and accountable. Science and scholarship can only develop further if people can share concerns about dilemmas and discuss errors made. This Code of Conduct is our contribution to that thought.”
Read more ››
Should I aim for multiple co-authorships to extend my publication list?
Young scientists often think that a long publication list is crucial for an academic career and that obtaining multiple co-authorships are a clever strategy to make their publication list longer. Is this true?

Ambitious young scientists are always confronted with a classical dilemma – should I publish one, two or a few papers in high impact journals or should I focus on a longer publication list with lower impact publications – including multiple co-authorships? There are good arguments to focus on fewer papers with higher impact factors (provided the supervisor, the available funding and infrastructure and the general research environment leave you the choice).

But if the possibilities are more limited multiple co-authorships may appear as a clever strategy to connect with other scientists, to extend your publication list or to avoid gaps in your publication list.
Read the whole blogpost on SmartScienceCareer ››
Job vacancies
Vacancies at SENSE Partners
Other vacancies in the SENSE field
More vacancies
During the month new vacancies are regularly posted on the SENSE vacancy page.

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SENSE Research School for Socio-Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment.

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