WIMEK - Wageningen University - Environment and Climate Research – (Ph.D.)

Contents

WIMEK's PhD Programme

The four-year PhD programme consists of a research component - conducting research under supervision of internationally leading scientists and writing a thesis - and a smaller education component. The programme can also be followed via a so-called sandwich model, which means: about 6 months study and proposal writing at Wageningen University; 3 years of research at an institute / university in your home country, and again about 6 months data analysis and thesis writing at Wageningen University.

PhD candidates can invest up to 15% of their scheduled PhD study in educational activities such as courses, seminars, conferences and workshops offered by the Graduate School. Furthermore, PhD candidates can spend up to 10% of their total PhD study conducting teaching activities.

Research Programme WIMEK - SENSE

Core 1: Environmental contaminants and nutrients

The strategic aim of the Core 1 research programme is to study the exposure and effects of micropollutants in the environment, as well as their removal or remediation in soil and (waste)water. Core 1 covers research varying from ecology and toxicology to analytical chemistry and environmental technology. Exposure and effect research form the basis of the risk assessment of micropollutants. Exposure studies encompass the occurrence, behaviour, fate and bioavailability of micropollutants in terrestrial and aquatic systems. Studies on the effects of micropollutants assess the biological responses to toxicant stress at the molecular (ecological genomics), organism and population level (ecotoxicology, biodiversity).

The development of new analytical or biological-based methods to measure exposure and effects of micropollutants is an important goal of exposure and effect studies. Integrative models are also developed by Core 1 researchers to predict micropollutant behaviour in complex environmental settings. Environmental technology research in Core 1 aims to develop sustainable solutions for the removal of micropollutants from (waste) water and soil, and for the restoration of renewable cycles of matter and energy.

Core 2: Environmental processes and ecosystem dynamics

The aim of Core 2 is to understand processes and patterns in ecosystems that are important to solve environmental problems. We study the fluxes of energy, water, carbon, nutrients and toxicants through these systems as well as the dynamics of populations, communities, landscapes and biomes.

Physical-chemical pressures are linked to ecological and human health, covering important interrelated environmental issues, in particular global change, biodiversity loss, eutrophication, acidification, pollution, droughts and flooding. While we focus on natural sciences, interaction with social sciences is sought. In addition, we cooperate with governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and private companies at various scales to facilitate implementation in society.

Research involves integrated lab, field and modelling studies, especially at regional scales.

Core 3: Global Environmental Change

The aim of Core 3 is to analyse the causes and effects of, and possible solutions to global change with emphasis on changes in climate, land use, biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles. Global change is the ultimate result of expanding economic activities based on wide spread practices and technologies that result into global scale changes in the functioning of the biosphere. The effect per capita is a major determinant in this equation.

It is still growing in industrialised countries while in emerging emerging economies the environmental use per capita is rapidly growing. At the global level major changes are now taking place in climate, land use, biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles. The early effects on environmental quality en ecosysytem services are becoming increasingly visible. Existing local stresses related to intensive human use of of ecosystem services are exacerbated by global changes

The ultimate aim of the various foci of this core programma 3 is to understand global change and its driving mechanisms, explore socio-economic and technological development trajectories that have a lower impact and to develop integrated models for simulation, projection and scenario development, and assess management implications and policy strategies under different plausible futures and at various scales.

Core 4: Sustainable development and social change: actors, institutions and governance

To bring about a more sustainable development important changes in production and consumption systems will be required. A basic question is how to produce and consume energy and materials in a more sustainable way and how to realize such transformations. Core 4 seeks to understand the complex society-environment interactions, to identify driving forces for change, to explore the feasibility of development trajectories, and to evaluate and design new societal arrangements for sustainable development. Evaluation and design criteria encompass the efficacy, efficiency, responsiveness, openness, legitimacy and justice of change strategies and arrangements.

Upon completion of the PhD programme, PhD candidates are expected to:

1. work as an independent scientist by:

• formulating research questions on the basis of either social issues or the progress of science;
• carrying out original scientific research;
• publishing in leading journals, with leading publishers or by creating a design.

2. integrate his or her research or place it within the framework of the scientific discipline in question and against the background of a wider scientific field.

3. place both research objectives and research results in a social context.

4. postulate concisely formulated propositions in scientific and social areas, formulated in such a way that they are capable of being disputed and defended.