Associate professor of Environmental Sciences and Ecohydrology

I am a geohydrologist working in the field of environmental sciences.

My research activities may be subdivided as follows:

1) Hydrology and watermanagement, mostly in the context of nature conservation and restoration. I am particularly interested in (ground)water quality patterns in relation to (ground)water flow systems. In recent years I have been working on:

• Groundwater modelling
• Water quality patterns in wetlands
• The dynamic form of rainwater lenses in drained fens
• Groundwater-surface water interactions
• Suspended sediment deposition in floodplains
• Distributed water balance models for river basins
• Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR)

2) Decision support systems for land use change and water management, focussing on ways to enhance the use of scientific information on land and water systems in decision making (science-policy interface). The research has involved:

• Use of decision support systems in spatial planning processes
• Application of optimisation methods (Genetic Algorithms) for land use change planning
• Social Cost Benefit Analysis of land use and water management scenarios

Supervision of PhD theses

• Dr. A. van Loon  - 12 March 2010
  Unravelling hydrological mechanisms behind fen deterioration in order to design restoration strategies
• Dr. F. van Kouwen - 3 October 2007  
  The Quasta approach - exploring new pathways to improve the use of knowledge for sustainability challenges. 
• Dr. C. Vink - 16 June 2006
  Continuing lines - Application of heuristic optimisation techniques for spatial environmental problems with multiple objectives. 
• Dr. G. Vonk - 28 March 2006
  Improving planning support. The use of Planning Support Systems for spatial planning.
• Dr. N. Pieterse - 20 February 2004
  Patching up the landscape. Optimising procedures for selecting suitable sites and measures for ecological restoration.