The Institute of Advanced Study is one of Durham University’s flagship interdisciplinary research institutes. Durham offers Fellows time and freedom to think, away from the demands of their everyday professional lives. By recruiting Fellows from all around the world, the IAS also fosters an exciting intellectual environment in which thinkers from diverse cultural and disciplinary backgrounds can exchange ideas. Applications and nominations for Fellowships are now being accepted. The closing date for applications is 25 June 2021. Please see full details on the website.
One of our SENSE PhD candidates is part of a small Dutch collective who build the "Groen Huiswerk" platform, to inform on the climate crisis and how you could make a difference. The platform provides tips on books, podcast, documentaries and articles. You’ll find a list with many movements and organizations and how you could help and guidance in how to organize something yourself.
SENSE congratulates dr.ir. Arnold van Vliet (Wageningen University & Research) for his 'appreciation' from the pilot fund ‘Science communication by scientists: Appreciated!’ As biologist, dr.ir. Arnold van Vliet performs communication activities around current developments in nature.
SENSE PhD candidate Alessio Belmondo Bianchi studied smart ways to match the increasing water demands by the chemical industry DowDuPont in Terneuzen. By combining previously developed simulation models, he concluded that a combination of treating local brackish water and transporting fresh water from distant sources was the most cost-effective and sustainable way to balance the companies water demands.
SENSE PhD researcher Bingnan Song developed an improved biological method to remove and recover selenium from wastewater. Specialized bacteria converted more than 95 % of the selenate present into elemental selenium. In addition to this high efficiency, conversion rates were about 6 times higher than in traditional methods.
Nature provides us with resources and food, regulates our climate and purifies air and water. Moreover, it provides us with a pleasant living and leisure environment. These properties are not included in the price of products. A United Nations ratified method can measure nature’s contribution to the economy. This may stimulate sustainable resource management. Want to know the value of the forest near you?
Recently launched: hydropower criteria that provide guidance for developers on ensuring climate change resilience, improving environmental & social sustainability. Miroslav Marence, IHE Delft's Associate Professor of Storage and Hydropower, was involved as member of a technical working group.
Exactly five years ago, 196 countries signed the UN Paris Climate Agreement. The ambitious agreements have not been collecting dust over the past five years, to the great delight of Rik Leemans, professor of Environmental Systems Analysis at WUR. He feels that global warming is being taken seriously at last. And with the proposed measures it looks like we will manage to significantly curb the increase in temperature over the next 80 years.
Together with project partner Dow Benelux in Terneuzen, ETE researcher Pradip Saha developed a method to clean saline, industrial wastewater. A complex task, since single technologies didn’t do the job. Therefore, he combined three different technologies for an effective cleaning: oxidation to remove most organic compounds followed by the use of constructed wetlands to remove some remaining organics. The last step included salt removal by standard membrane desalination technology.