Earth and Life Sciences news
Report on NWO Theme Systems Biology
published
A preparative committee under the leadership
of Prof. Douwe Breimer (Leiden University) has published a strategic action plan for the NWO theme Systems
Biology. According to the committee, the realisation of this theme,
supported by seven NWO organisations and divisions, can start with
the setting up of four to six multidisciplinary centres for systems
biology. |
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Personnel changes at ALW office
Three new staff have been appointed at the ALW office:
- Liesbeth Noor and Martijn Los are both policy officers for the
programmes IPY and Netherlands Polar Programme.
- Manuela Koelemij has been appointed as head of the
secretariat.
All three cases concern replacement of
existing positions.
There is a vacancy for a marketing and communications officer / office manager
at the Biosciences and Society Foundation. This Foundation is housed
at ALW and publishes workbooks and theme booklets about
(bio)scientific developments. |
Grants awarded
The ALW Divisional Board has awarded
grants in the Open Programme, Meervoud, Sea and Coast Research, and
Green Genetics.
- In the Open Programme, 9 of the 27 applications were funded,
see overview.
- Meervoud: 4 of the 15 applications were funded, see overview.
- In the programme Sea and Coast Research (ZKO), subsidiary
programme Oceans, three applications were funded: see overview.
- Green Genetics: 5 of the 18 applications were funded, see overview.
Programme news
Final symposium Biodiversity
The NWO
Stimulation Programme Biodiversity will be concluded with a final symposium on 9 December 2009. Prof. Maurice
Hoffman (Flemish Research Institute for Nature and Forest, INBO)
will deliver the keynote lecture. In addition, the special issue
Biodiversity, which has been produced in cooperation with the
magazine Landschap, will be presented to the financiers of the
programme: LNV, VROM, OCW and NWO-ALW. The event will be held at
congress centre Antropia in Driebergen. |
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New programme Feedbacks in the climate system
Within the theme Sustainable
Earth a new programme is being launched: Feedbacks in the
climate system. In the first call 2.5 million euro has been made available;
A second call might take place in 2010 if VROM participates in the
programme. Applications within this new programme must be focused on
three subjects: the gaps in knowledge noted by the IPCC,
regionalisation of scenarios, and the integration of biochemistry
and ground cover in models. Applications may not overlap with
Knowledge for Climate. |
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Final document research programme Physical
Biology
The programme Physical Biology was concluded
with a special document. In this a science journalist interviewed
several researchers about their experiences with respect to the
cooperation between biologists and physicists. Two formerly separate
disciplines have been able to learn a lot from each other thanks to
this programme. The physicist: 'Sometimes we forget that cells are
actually alive'. The biologist: 'Physicists are only satisfied if
the error is 0.0.' The document (in Dutch) can be obtained from prop@nwo.nl. |
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Special edition ecotoxicology
On 1 December
2009, a special issue will be published, entitled: 'Ecological
effects of diffuse pollution.' This is a publication the journal
Science of the TOTal ENvironment (STOTEN) and
has been developed following the outcome of the incentive programme
system-oriented ecotoxicological research. The special issue
contains articles from scientists and policy makers in the
Netherlands and other countries. A limited number of copies of the
journal are available from Mirjam van
het Groenewoud. |
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Call for educational objectives Brain and
cognition
Within the programme Brain & Cognition: an
Integral Approach, a special call has been opened for educational
objectives, such as the organisation of summer schools. There is no
deadline for this call. |
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Programme day Evolution and Behaviour on 9 December
2009
On Tuesday 9 December 2008, NWO will organise the
annual programme day for the research programme Evolution &
Behaviour. In the Academiegebouw of Utrecht Dr Margo Wilson and
Dr Martin Daly (McMaster University, Canada) will give the keynote
lecture entitled 'Future discounting: risk-freeboard, inequality,
and homicide'. In addition to this, various researchers will present
their projects. During the Darwin Year the E&B programme will be
concluded on 17 and 18 September 2009 with the final Congress
entitled 'Human Evolution and Behaviour'. |
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Deadlines
2 December 2008: closing date Rubicon
1
January 2009: closing date ERASysBio+
8 January 2009: closing
date Agriculture beyond food
8 January 2009: closing date
Mosaic
15 January 2009: closing date Feedbacks in the climate
system
Click here for further information about these deadlines.
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Press releases
No oxygen in Eastern Mediterranean
bottom-water
There is an organic-rich bed of sediment in
the floor of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Researchers from Utrecht
University published the reason for this in Nature Geoscience: the
bottom layer was sealed off for thousands of years by oxygen-free water. This was the consequence of a wet
climatic period thousands of years ago. |
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