Vening Meinesz prize for Lydian Boschman

Earth scientist Lydian Boschman of Utrecht University has been awarded the Vening Meinesz prize for earth and environmental sciences. She receives the €10,000 prize for her research on the role that solid earth evolution (tectonics and palaeogeography) and palaeoclimate have played in shaping contemporary biodiversity. The prize was presented at the 20th Dutch Earth Science Congress in Utrecht on 7 March 2024.

Lydian Boschman is an associate professor at Utrecht University. She is one of the most creative and talented earth scientists of her generation, who in her still young career has implemented a number of surprising and innovative ideas creating a new field at the interface of geology and biology. After her MSc (cum laude, 2013) and PhD (cum laude, 2019), both in earth sciences in Utrecht, she then became a postdoc in the Landscape Ecology Group at ETH Zurich to develop as a biologist. There, she also focused on developing quantitative reconstructions of palaeogeography - in which topography and bathymetry ("underwater altimetry") must be added to tectonic reconstructions.

Biodiversity hotspot

In 2021, Dr Boschman acquired a Veni grant with which she returned to Utrecht to study in New Caledonia how current biodiversity has been shaped by changes in environment in the geological past. This island is a biodiversity hotspot with a unique species composition, but why is puzzling. She is therefore investigating how the current biodiversity on New Caledonia is a sum of tectonic evolution and associated topography and soil composition, and climate.

Dr Boschman is a highly productive scientist who is truly innovative. Her publications appear in a wide variety of journals and are highly cited. As a result, Boschman's work has already received several awards.

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  dr. Lydian Boschman

Assessment

Candidates for the Vening Meinesz Prize are judged on their drive for scientific research, independence, output, impact on the research community, creativity in carrying out their research and, finally, expectations about the candidates' further career. The selection committee was impressed by this candidate's high degree of independence and autonomy. The committee describes her as impressive and extremely independent and she is an innovative asset to the Dutch earth sciences due to her multidisciplinary approach.

Vening Meinesz prize

The prize is named after Prof Felix Vening Meinesz (1887-1966), one of the founding fathers of Dutch earth sciences. In his legacy, he stipulated that the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) should award a prize for young talents in Dutch earth sciences. Between 1965 and 2022, NWO awarded the prize. From 2024, the Royal Dutch Geological Mining Society (KNGMG) will take care of the prize and award it annually to young earth and environmental scientists. With effect from 2024, the prize is financially made possible by the Earth and Environmental Sciences Advisory Table of the NWO ENW domain.  Candidates can only be nominated if they received their PhD less than six years ago.