Faculteit Geowetenschappen (Universiteit Utrecht)

A huge congratulations to Prof. Detlef Van Vuuren, who was awarded the 2024 Spinoza Prize at a ceremony in The Hague hosted by NWO (Dutch Research Council) yesterday. The prize is accompanied by a monetary award of 1.5 million euros which Detlef, a professor at Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, intends to use to develop scenarios that will help us reach a future that is both environmentally sustainable and ensures a dignified life for everyone on Earth. We have agreed internationally to make a dignified life possible for everyone on Earth, requiring a certain minimum use of environmental resources. This translates into a kind of corridor with both upper and lower boundaries for the collective environmental pressure, says Van Vuuren. “I would like to use the Spinoza Prize to develop scenarios that aim to stay within that corridor." Detlef was joined at the ceremony by Spinoza Prize laureate Prof. Bernet Elzinga (Leiden University) and Stevin Prize laureates Prof. Paul 't Hart (REBO Utrecht University) and Prof. David Abbink (Delft University of Technology). Congrats to all! Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ey3HY2-k Photos: Freek van den Bergh

Beleef de wetenschap! Op 6 oktober 2024 opent de Universiteit Utrecht de deuren in het Utrecht Science Park voor jong en oud.   Hoe voelt het om een wedstrijd te spelen waarbij de kansen ongelijk zijn? Wat is de wetenschap achter humor? Hoe ziet een bananenplant eruit? Tijdens het Weekend van de Wetenschap op zondag 6 oktober ontdek je het antwoord op deze en nog veel meer vragen. Schuif aan bij mini-colleges, doe mee aan spannende experimenten en volg interessante workshops. Met vanuit onze faculteit bijdragen van Harrison Esam Awuh, Eise Nota, Anne Schulp, Veronique Schutjens en Sophie van Wijk Meer info: https://lnkd.in/eu6hnbGp

Wil jij leraar worden? Meer informatie over de lerarenopleidingen bij de Universiteit Utrecht vind je op: https://lnkd.in/deRkY9V3

Meet PhD students Sahar Amiri and Rens Elbertsen as they share their stories about our High Pressure & Temperature Laboratory (HPT Lab). The HPT Lab is one of the world's largest laboratories in the field of rock and fault mechanics. It is equipped with a wide variety of facilities to study behaviour of rock in the underground. These involve apparatus for deformation of rock samples at high pressure and temperature, high temperature furnaces, and apparatus for thermal, microstructural and IR analysis. More info on our research into rock material behaviour: https://lnkd.in/eFmPCJWB EPOS-NL

🎉 Earth scientist and lead applicant Wenzhuo Cao receives #funding from the NWO (Dutch Research Council)'s Domain Applied and Engineering Sciences through the Open Technology Programme. 'Deep #geothermal #energy is a clean resource that is being exploited, but it has yet to achieve efficient uptake in the Netherlands', says Wenzhuo Cao. 'We will leverage natural fracture networks and field operational data to analyse seismic events at geothermal sites, and understand better what happens in the subsurface.' Together with André Niemeijer and Loes Buijze, Wenzhuo Cao has been awarded this funding for their project 𝘛𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘎𝘌𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴: 𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘯𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯-𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘙𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘚𝘭𝘪𝘱 (𝘎𝘦𝘰𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵). Within this project they work together with TNO, KNMI - Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, VITO, International Geothermal Association and two deep geothermal fields. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ewNRV5bt

📣 Grounded Running Paradox solved!📣 At first glance birds may not seem good runners. Try it yourself: bend your knees and run around on your toes while keeping at least one foot on the ground at all times. This feels unnatural to a human, but birds do this regularly. An international team led by researchers from Naturalis Biodiversity Center and Utrecht University have discovered why birds use this running style. Pasha van Bijlert, first author of the paper, says: “Maybe we should be teaching robots to run like this.” 🤖 Curious about this research? In the video, Pasha explains how he, together with his team, solved the Grounded Running Paradox. This research was published in Science Advances. Read more on our UU-website via this link: https://lnkd.in/e8C8Wfah

High academic award for economic geographer Ron Boschma Professor Ron Boschma is the first Dutch person to receive the Prix Vautrin Lud, the highest academic award within the field of geography. The award will be presented in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France on 6 October. Prior to the award ceremony, Prof. Boschma will give an invited lecture at the Sorbonne University in Paris on 4 October. Boschma was nominated for the award in recognition of his scientific contributions to the field of economic geography, especially for laying the foundations of evolutionary economic geography and his research into regional diversification and innovation policy. The European Union’s regional policy is based in part on his research. The award was created in 1991, and is presented every year at the Festival international de Géographie (FIG) in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France. The festival organisers created the award due to the lack of a Nobel Prize for Geography. Nominations for the Prix Vautrin Lud go through the same procedure as the Nobel Prize: around 500 experts from around the world can submit nominations, and an international committee chooses the winner. Calculating plans Regional governments each have their own priorities, but not all of them find a realistic way to achieve their goals. Boschma is able to calculate whether the choices made by European regions are feasible or not. “For example, the Netherlands wants to play a leading role in the field of cybersecurity, but it’s not clear that we have the necessary competencies to do that”, cautions the researcher. “On the other hand, we’ve seen that the north of the country has wisely chosen to develop hydrogen, and that the province of North Brabant has had success in developing imaging technologies.” https://lnkd.in/ek_srHr2 KNAG (Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap) INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL UNION

The Faculty of Geosciences uniquely combines natural and social sciences within a single faculty. Do you want to work there too? We have some exciting vacancies to share with you. Looking for a PhD or post-doc? There might be something for you! 💫 • 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐜 / 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐨-𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐛 Apply by 30 September: https://lnkd.in/eUEBW8-m • 𝐏𝐡𝐃 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞-𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝 Apply by 30 September: https://lnkd.in/ezakSa89 • 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐏𝐡𝐃 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐃𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Apply by 30 September: https://lnkd.in/eXebpKrX • 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐜 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 Apply by 3 October: https://lnkd.in/ehf6vd2u • 𝐏𝐡𝐃 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 Apply by 6 October: https://lnkd.in/eTDhHjbW • 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐡𝐃 - 𝐋𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 Apply by 15 October: https://lnkd.in/eFe3mHJa Please share widely! #Vacatures #hiring #academicjobs

De alomtegenwoordigheid van #PFAS en de moeilijke natuurlijke afbraak ervan hebben geleid tot ernstige verontreiniging van bodem en milieu. Het PFAS Living Lab van de Universiteit Utrecht onderzoekt de mogelijkheden van duurzame bodemsanering. Wetenschapsprogramma Focus belichtte de PFAS-problematiek en de mogelijke oplossingen en sprak daarvoor onder andere met onze hydrogeoloog Johan Van Leeuwen PhD. De uitzending is terug te zien op https://lnkd.in/eWHZ-THu. Meer weten over ons onderzoek naar PFAS? Kijk dan op https://lnkd.in/ef6BNNv6

Governments and organisations meet year-round to make crucial decisions to solve global environmental problems. Why, then, is progress so slow? This is the research area of Prof. Frank Biermann, political scientist at our Faculty’s Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, who proposes a reformed United Nations and new institutions to reach sustainability goals. He is awarded the Volvo Environment Prize 2024 for his research on environmental governance. A huge congrats! 🙌 Frank is the first political scientist to receive the award. He sees this as a recognition of the role of the social sciences in sustainability. The jury says: “Frank Biermann has been defining new pathways for international environmental governance in a period of global change. He has spearheaded research that has advanced our understanding of how international institutions might improve our collective ability to mitigate global environmental risks and adapt to unavoidable changes.” Fun fact: Three Volvo Environment Prize laureates have gone on to win the Nobel Prize! Learn more about Frank, his work and the Volvo Environment Prize here: https://lnkd.in/dm2siX8u Earth System Governance Project Utrecht University GLOBALGOALS2024 #Sustainability #Sustainabilityesearch #SustainabilityScience