Forward-Thinking Sustainability:
Scientific Breakthroughs from Molecules to Global Systems
The 21st century is marked by rapid scientific and technological breakthroughs that are transforming how we study and understand sustainability in ecology, agriculture, and the life sciences. Advances in molecular techniques, high-throughput data generation, AI, long-term ecological monitoring, advanced modelling approaches, and global earth observation are now allowing us to observe living systems with a level of precision and scale that was previously unimaginable. These developments are fundamentally reshaping science across disciplines and scales, raising an important question for the future: how do we integrate these rapidly evolving insights to guide both research and society towards forward-thinking sustainability?
This year’s PE&RC Day takes a multi-scale perspective, bringing together researchers working across various levels. We explore how breakthroughs in methods, theories, and technologies are helping us understand and steer complex living systems, and how insights across these scales can reinforce each other. Field-renowned speakers will share their perspectives on how such integrated approaches can contribute to more sustainable futures, followed by interactive discussions that connect ideas across disciplines and scales.
The winners of the PE&RC Institutional Collaboration Grant 2025 will present their findings. The applicants for the Institutional Collaboration Call 2026 will pitch their ideas after we will vote for the best idea/pitch. As always, we will also vote for the PE&RC Picture Awards.
The PE&RC Day is organised by the PE&RC PhD Council (PPC), with the assistance of the PE&RC Office. More details about the PPC can be found here.
To apply for the PE&RC day picture award, submit your beautiful/meaningful/weird/tear-jerking picture of your PhD work here! This is also the place to find all the relevant details about the competition.
Winners will be awarded €150,-
You can submit a picture to each of the two categories:
1) Fieldwork
2) Labwork & Modelling
| Target Group | The PE&RC day is meant for all PE&RC PhDs, postdocs and staff members. Non-PE&RC members are also warmly welcomed! |
| Event duration | 1 day |
| Number of credits | 0.3 ECTS |
| Fee | |
| PE&RC members | Free of charge |
| All others | €60,- |
Travel subsidy
As we wish members from all institutes to join the Day, PE&RC will subsidise the travel costs to Amsterdam for PE&RC PhDs:
| Coming from | Subsidy |
| Amsterdam | None |
| Leiden | €10,- |
| Nijmegen | €25,- |
| Utrecht | €15,- |
| Wageningen | Bus* |
*If there is sufficient interest, we will arrange a bus from Wageningen campus to Amsterdam and back. Please indicate in the registration form whether you want to join the bus.
PE&RC Cancellation Conditions
IMPORTANT: ALWAYS read the Cancellation conditions for PE&RC courses and activities.