Upcoming events

Wageningen University and Research has a long history in contributing to the interdisciplinary study of earth system science and governance, and seeking solutions to both longstanding and newly emerging global sustainability challenges. This symposium revisits breakthroughs in interdisciplinary scholarship on these topics, by highlighting both current insights and identifying new frontiers of knowledge needed to address pressing nature-society interactions in the context of ongoing earth system transformations.

Sfécologie (the French Ecological Society's International Conference) will take place from 22 - 25 October 2018 at the historic Couvent des Jacobins in the old part of the city of Rennes.

Two years ago, fall armyworm (FAW) arrived in Africa. What we have learned so far? What are effective strategies in reaching farmers across the continent? How effective have responses so far been? What are the long-term consequences of these responses? What innovative ideas might work better? Find out and share your insights in the UN SDSN carbon-free e-conference.

During this session an Introduction to Git for R project will be given.

WIMEK and PE&RC organise a Mediterranean documentary evening on October 26th, titled Pizza in Arcadia. There will be pizza, documentaries, and drinks, all in Mediterranean fashion, from 17:30 to 21:30, in Gaia 1+2. We will show the first two parts of the documentary The First Eden, by Sir David Attenborough. After each part, we will have an expert contribution on how Mediterranean ecosystems are shaped by processes with different temporal resolutions

In this workshop examples from different perspectives will be presented on issues related to the use of novel laser technology for studying forest dynamics and provide new insights in forest structure and forest ecology.

In this course, matrix methods will be used to analyze models based on prevalence and incidence data. The methods will go beyond the fixation on mean results and will incorporate variance and stochasticity. The class will introduce methods based on Markov chains, Markov chains with rewards, multistate matrix models, and matrix calculus. The new analyses will be compared, where possible, to traditional approaches.

Seven sessions highlight the advances in soil modeling during the ISMC Conference 2018.

Human social networks are currently more visible than ever due to the existence of social media. Yet social networks are not a human invention; they exist all around us in nature. From plants that use a thread-like fungus to warn each other about predators, to coral reefs that form sustainable recycling systems; in all natural systems organisms share information and resources to their own benefit and that of the network. On the PE&RC day 2018 we would like you to meet the scientists who discover and unravel the connections in nature’s social networks. We will take a look into the amazing functionality and connectivity of these natural networks and how we can learn from them to optimise our own man-made networks.

The fourth Rob Goldbach Virology Lecture is held on Thursday 8 November 2018 in Wageningen by Professor Dr Michael R. Strand of the University of Georgia, Athens, USA.

NWO organises information meetings for researchers who want to apply for a Veni, Vidi of Vici grant. Practical information is given and selection committee members, NWO secretaries and researchers who have already acquired a Veni, Vidi or Vici share their experiences during a question and answer session.

This course gives insight into the possibilities of electron microscopy as a research tool and when to use scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) or combined light and electron microscopy (CLEM) for your analysis. You will be able to operate an electron microscope at basic level, make images and perform basic techniques of sample preparation. To benefit optimally from this course you will need some understanding of microscopes in general, but it is not necessary to have experience with electron microscopy.

Is dierethiek een blinde vlek in het natuurbeheer? Of is in dit werkveld vooral de instandhouding van populaties en levensgemeenschappen van belang en hoeven natuurbeheerders geen rekening te houden met het wel en wee van individuele dieren? Over deze vragen organiseert de Heimans en Thijsse Stichting onder voorzitterschap van Frank Berendse een prikkelend symposium met als sprekers: Frans de Waal, internationaal vermaard primatoloog, Floris van den Berg, filosoof, en Esther Ouwenhand, politica.

On 29 November the yearly NCG symposium is organized at the Wageningen University. The symposium is accessible free of charge and intended for all researchers and students of Dutch universities, academies and institutes that are active in the field of Geodesy and Geo-Information. This announcement is specially directed to doctoral students, postdocs, and active researchers in the field, to facilitate the exchange and discussion about results of research and research activities in these domains. MSc students who recently ended their graduation are also welcome to present a contribution.

Voeding en gezondheid staan hoog op de agenda in het maatschappelijk en wetenschappelijk debat. Daarbij gaat het meestal over voedselveiligheid en voedselzekerheid, en nog te weinig over voedselkwaliteit en gezondheid. Voeding wordt in verband gebracht met een toenemend aantal ziekten. Er is weliswaar veel aandacht voor toevoeging van suiker, zout en supplementen, en het belang van groenten en fruit, maar er is meer. In dit symposium zullen we uitgangspunten en integrale aspecten van toekomstige landbouw en voedselbeleid verkennen en benoemen.

An interdisciplinary 5 weeks course, comparing adaptive wildlife management in northern and southern hemisphere systems, including a 16-day field trip to South Africa (no course fee, application deadline 1 September 2018). The course will have three mandatory parts; Part I will be at SLU in Umeå (December 2018), Part II in South Africa (5 - 20 January 2019), and Part III again at SLU in Umeå (31 January - 1 February 2019).

The aim of the meeting is to bring together the latest insights on current topics in landscape management for functional biodiversity, including the management for multiple ecosystem services, the identification of promising crop and non-crop management options to support biodiversity-based pest management, and initiatives to meet the challenge to halt the ongoing decline of important farmland species. Promising areas for future research will be identified.