Unusual times call for unusual collaboration
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Research School for Socio-Economic and
Natural Sciences of the Environment
SENSE e-News
    Newsletter October 2022
06 October 2022
Table of contents
Editorial
SENSE News
Is the rainforest a sink or a source of CO2? - Read the CloudRoots Amazonia blog ››
Upcoming courses and discussion groups
A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 27-28 October 2022 ››
Overview of PhD / postdoc courses October-November 2022 ››
Overview of recently announced PhD / postdoc courses ››
Upcoming Events
Annual IHE PhD symposium 2022: “Realising the SDGs: Innovative water solutions to achieve resilience in an uncertain world” – all SENSE PhD candidates invited, 13-14 October 2022 ››
Symposium: Satellite Imagery Classification of man-made structures using Deep Learning/Machine Learning, 28 October 2022 ››
Water-Energy-Food Nexus symposium, 7 November 2022 ››
Overview of upcoming events October-November ››
Overview of recently announced events ››
Upcoming PhD graduations
Overview of PhD graduations October 2022 ››
Calls
Call SENSE Course Development (deadline: 31 October 2022) ››
Biodiversa+ Call on "Improved transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change for science and society" (deadline: early November 2022) ››
GAIA Masters Student Paper Award (deadline: 28 November 2022) ››
Call for participation: Spark (deadline: not yet finalised, but not earlier than March 2023) ››
Open Competition Domain Science - M (deadline: 31 July 2023) ››
Dutch Research Agenda - Theme: Climate and Nature (deadline pre-proposals: 20 October 2022) ››
Job vacancies
Overview job vacancies ››
SENSE highlights
COURSE A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 27-28 October 2022 
EVENT Annual IHE PhD symposium 2022: “Realising the SDGs: Innovative water solutions to achieve resilience in an uncertain world” – all SENSE PhD candidates invited, 13-14 October 2022 
CALL SENSE Course Development (deadline: 31 October 2022) 
Editorial
Unusual times call for unusual collaborations
We are living in times with many crises in our world. As private persons, the crises may worry us and affect our personal lives to a lesser or larger extent. From a scientific perspective, this period in history is also interesting. The call from society for solutions is strong, but the issues we are facing are complex and intertwined.

At WIMEK, the Wageningen partner within the SENSE network, the focus on transdisciplinary research is growing. WIMEK tries to play an active role in furthering this kind of research: involving not only several scientific disciplines, but also societal partners, preferable from an early state of scientific research. The Transdisciplinary Research hub-under-development is not only aimed at WIMEK, but also at other parts of Wageningen UR and at the SENSE network. For anyone interested: check the hub-page for an overview of courses, events, calls and other interesting information about Transdisciplinary Research.

Another player in the field of transdisciplinary cooperation is the Centre for Unusual Collaborations (CUCo). As they cite: "Some current problems are too complex to be solved by 'research as usual' and require a radically different approach."
A number of events on transdisciplinarity, both by CUCo and others, you can find under the events section of this newsletter, marked as [TD].

For any PhD candidate it may be challenging to find the proper balance between obtaining a sound disciplinary basis and searching for opportunities to step out of the disciplinary box and explore new pathways with a strong connection with society. Please keep in mind that the tailor-made SENSE education programme offers you the opportunity to strengthen your transdisciplinary skills, both by taking relevant courses (see the courses page of the SENSE website and/or the afore mentioned Transdisciplinary Research page of WIMEK) and in your A2 project. For a truly transdisciplinary approach in part of your research, you might want to explore your options for the A2 project in an early stage of your research.

I wish all of us the courage and optimism to find opportunities to contribute to a positive response of today's crises, and a lot of fun and inspiration doing so.

Marjolijn Dannenburg, Communication officer


SENSE News
Is the rainforest a sink or a source of CO2? - Read the CloudRoots Amazonia blog
Clouds talk to leaves and the leaves talk back. Scientists from Wageningen and Utrecht spent three weeks in the Amazon listening to that conversation. The image of a dialogue comes from professor of Meteorology and Air Quality Jordi Vilà. He uses it in one of the blogs written during the expedition to the Brazilian rainforest. Trees don’t talk, of course, but the image gets the point across. Speech is communication; in this case the interaction of leaves and passing clouds through the play of light.
Read more ››
Go straight to CloudRoots Amazonia blog ››
Upcoming courses and discussion groups
A1 SENSE Introductory Course, 27-28 October 2022
This course brings together PhD candidates that have the ambition to work on environmental issues, and who have just started their journey within SENSE.During the course, you will discuss the need for interdisciplinary research and start to think about what role you would like to play as a scientist in solving environmental issues. The course will also be part introduction to personal leadership, exploring what is important to you, and hence talking about how to tackle any potential challenges you may face along the way. And you will meet other PhD candidates with which you will share a lot of the same experiences with.
Read more ››

Overview of PhD / postdoc courses October-November 2022
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
Upcoming Events
Annual IHE PhD symposium 2022: “Realising the SDGs: Innovative water solutions to achieve resilience in an uncertain world” – all SENSE PhD candidates invited, 13-14 October 2022
Read more ››

Symposium: Satellite Imagery Classification of man-made structures using Deep Learning/Machine Learning, 28 October 2022
A symposium on man-made structures classification from satellite imagery using Deep Learning/Machine Learning. 
The program (see attachment) will consist of two parts. In the first part, there are two main keynote presentations on Scaling-up challenges and Explainable AI for machine learning-based remote sensing activities. Each main presentation will be followed by a 20-minutes period for discussion/questions.
During the second part, you are invited to present your PhD/Postdoc research. It will be followed by time for discussions and some drinks.
The main goal of the symposium will be to share ideas and broaden the network of early-career researchers working on the combination of satellite data and deep learning/machine learning in an inspiring blend of interactive presentations and discussions.
Read more ››

Water-Energy-Food Nexus symposium, 7 November 2022
The OECD predicts there will be 9 billion people on Earth by 2050. At the same time, it is anticipated that global water needs will rise by 55%, energy consumption by 80%, and food production by 60%, all of which could have an impact on land use patterns. In light of these forecasts, the importance of the Water Energy Food Nexus(WEF) thinking is needed more than ever.

In this symposium, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art, gaps and advances in WEF research. We invited well-known keynotes and prominent early-career scientists to cover a wide range of topics including water and energy footprints, the role of forests and food waste, governance, and many more. Sounds interesting? Then see you in November!
Read more ››

Overview of upcoming events October-November 2022 

Overview of recently announced events 
Upcoming PhD graduations
Overview of PhD graduations October 2022
  • Floris Leijten
    Assessing the effectiveness of zero-deforestation commitments
    3 October 2022, VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)
     
  • Mariana Rodrigues
    Modeling and application of electrochemical ammonia recovery
    7 October 2022, Wageningen University, Environmental Technology
     
  • Yujia Luo
    Influence of organic amendments on soil microbiomes
    7 October 2022, Wageningen University, Environmental Technology
     
  • Maria van Schaik
    Resource recovery from urban wastewater -Model-based evaluation and design-
    12 October 2022, Wageningen University, Environmental Technology
     
  • Rosa Aguilar Bolivar
    Planning Support tools for stakeholders' engagement in collaborative spatial planning processes considering different space and time settings
    13 October 2022, University of Twente, Urban and regional and Geo-Information Management
     
  • Goraw Yemer
    Analysing water quality and its impact towards sustainable basin management: Modelling and experimental approaches in Lake Tana Basin, Ethiopia
    18 October 2022, Wageningen University, Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management
     
  • Kingsley Kumah
    Near-Real-Time Rainfall Detection and Estimation from Commercial Microwave Links and Meteosat Second Generation Data
    26 October 2022, University of Twente, Water Resources
     
  • Auke Visser
    Advancing process understanding of ozone dry deposition across scales
    31 October 2022, Wageningen University, Meteorology and Air Quality
     
More upcoming graduations ››
Calls

Call SENSE Course Development (deadline: 31 October 2022)
To support the development of new courses and the collaboration between members, SENSE allocated an annual fund of 20.000 euros to support course development. Each proposal can apply for a maximum of 4.500 euro. Applications are open to all SENSE member institutes.
Read more ››

Biodiversa+ Call on "Improved transnational monitoring of biodiversity and ecosystem change for science and society" (deadline: early November 2022)
This call will cover the following three non-exclusive research themes:
1) Innovation and harmonisation of methods and tools for collection and management of biodiversity monitoring data
2) Addressing knowledge gaps on biodiversity status, dynamics, and trends to reverse biodiversity loss
3) Making use of available biodiversity monitoring data
All environments (i.e. terrestrial, inland freshwater including wetlands, and marine) will be eligible.
Read more ››

GAIA Masters Student Paper Award (deadline: 28 November 2022)
The international journal GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society invites Masters students to participate in the GAIA Masters Student Paper Award. Masters students are encouraged to submit their results from research-based courses or Masters theses in the field of transdisciplinary environmental and sustainability science. Every year, one article will be selected by a jury as the winner of the GAIA Masters Student Paper Award.
Read more ››

Call for participation: Spark (deadline: not yet finalised, but not earlier than March 2023)
Spark grants aim to stimulate unusual collaborations to address societal challenges. The grants do this by offering initial financial support to start building a committed project team with whom to explore the potential of an idea and/or to test whether it can be taken further and developed into a project application, for an Unusual Collaborations grant or another funding scheme. Spark grants are thus a low-threshold stimulus to support connection with others outside one’s own disciplinary background, to initiate collaboration around a research idea, to share knowledge and best practices, and to develop something together.
Read more ››

Open Competition Domain Science - M (deadline: 31 July 2023)
ENW-M grants are intended for curiosity-driven scientific research with impact. The ENW-M grants offer researchers the opportunity and freedom to start, and/or strengthen excellent, challenging and innovative lines of research, both mono disciplinary, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary. For this call for proposals, your application must fit in the NWO Domain Science. Consider at an early point in time if the contents of your application meet this condition. In case of any doubts, for instance because your application is (partially) multidisciplinary, please contact one of the contact persons for this programme. This person can advise you about the substantive connection between your application and this Call for Proposals.
Read more ››

Dutch Research Agenda - Theme: Climate and Nature (deadline pre-proposals: 20 October 2022)
Climate change will increasingly have an effect on the quality of nature. It is important to pursue integrated and sustainable solutions and strategies that address the root causes and contribute to biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as to social values such as justice, prosperity, and well-being.
The aim of the programme is to fill existing knowledge gaps on the following three sub-questions:
1. How do changes in climate and nature influence each other?;
2. What are the effects of existing measures on climate, nature and society?;
3. What social, political and institutional obstacles influence the implementation of options and strategies and how can they be removed?
Read more ››
Job vacancies
Overview of 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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