Newsletter 6

News Earth and Life Sciences

Master plan polar research to be submitted to Minister Plasterk Soon Minister Plasterk will receive the masterplan "Pool Position-NL". The plan, intended as the successor of the current Netherlands Polar Program 2007-2010, was already mentioned at the close of the IPY last March. You can download the master plan, after its presentation to the minister, here.

State of the Climate 2008 On 20 April 2009, the leaflet The State of the Climate was presented. The Platform Communication on Climate Change (PCCC), which represents the most important climate research institutes in the Netherlands, as well as NWO, publishes this leaflet each year. State Secretary Tineke Huizinga (Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management) accepted the leaflet.

China and the Netherlands join forces in water management research NWO and KNAW recently paid a working visit to China. This has led to a joint venture in the area of water management which fits in the theme Sustainable Earth. Deadline for the call is 15 June 2009.

Website NPDA The National Partnership for Sustainable Earth (NDPA) was founded in May 2008. This was realised by means of a covenant between the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment and NWO with respect to knowledge development in the area of sustainability. The NPDA now has its own website.

Two publications in the Darwin Year

AO-booklet about evolution In partnership with the publisher a booklet has been published in the CS series. In addition to a general introduction about Darwin and evolutionary theory, the booklet highlights five research projects funded by NWO. The CS series (Current Subjects) has been published fortnightly since the 1930s.

New Foundation for Biosciences and Society workbook: Evolution is in your genes Can you demonstrate evolution via genetics? The Foundation for Biosciences and Society has recently published a new workbook: Evolution is in your genes. When Darwin published his Origin of Species, the discipline of genetics had yet to be established. What is the significance of our current knowledge of genetics for the theory of evolution? You can read it in this workbook.

BCF Careers Event The BCF event (Bio Chemistry and Food) will be held on Thursday 28 May at the RAI Exhibition and Congress Centre in Amsterdam. This careers fair is aimed at students and young professionals. Four NWO divisions will inform visitors of the career opportunities in science and the various funding possibilities that NWO has for supporting this.

Lectures 7 June Naturalis Leiden, Eric Pauwels (CWI) about computer recognition of animals. 28 June Naturalis Leiden, Annemieke Gloudemans (SRON) about using satellite images of the Earth to improve climate models.

Personnel news ALW office The following people have recently left the ALW office: - Dr. Tanja Kouwenhoven, NPDA / Sustainable Earth - Raymond Schorno, Sea and Coastal Research - Arwen Messersmid, secretariat We welcome the following new staff to ALW: - Saskia van Driel, Foundation for Biosciences and Society / BWM - Bernard Westerop, NPDA / Sustainable Earth - Dr. Josef Stuefer, Sea and Coastal Research, Rubicon - Angela Funna-Gopy, secretariat - Irma de Nadal-Uceda, secretariat - Nel Roos-Kornet, secretariat

Grants awarded In the Rubicon programme 10 of the 43 proposals were funded. In the Open Programme 7 of the 25 proposals were funded. In the Netherlands Polar Programme 7 of the 20 proposals were funded.

Programme news
Evolution and Behaviour The programme Evolution and Behaviour shall be concluded with a closing symposium on 17 and 18 September 2009. Jan van Hooff will chair the day, a special exhibition from the British Council shall be on view and a public lecture shall be held. Location: Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam. The closing symposium is part of the Darwin week being organised by NWO and KNAW.
ZKO Sea and Coastal Research On Thursday 3 and Friday 4 September 2009, a symposium shall be held within the programme Sea and Coastal Research. The initial results from the projects awarded under the Wadden call shall be reviewed. Location: Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel.
Cognition Within the Cognition programme a symposium is being organised. In a public meeting, the American illusionist and pantomime actor Teller shall perform on 5 September in Pakhuis De Zwijger, Amsterdam. The programme also includes the presentation of the book commissioned by the programme committee and written by science journalist Bennie Mols.
Deadlines 3 June: closing date Brain and cognition 15 June: Partnership with China 21 August: Integration of research into Sustainable Earth 2 September: Investment Subsidy NWO Large 2 September: Investment Subsidy NWO Medium Click here for further information about the various deadlines.
Press releases
Peruvian stalagmites reveal climate change PhD researcher Martin van Breukelen (VU University Amsterdam) analysed stalagmites from the South American Amazon tributaries in Peru. Using these stalagmites he can reconstruct climate changes from the past.
Incomplete picture of Earth's hotspot A wide range of geological processes occur within the Earth's mantle. Using mantle tomography Ebru Bozdag (Utrecht University) demonstrated that previous measurements were not correct. On 18 May she gained her doctorate within the Vici project 'Quantitative Seismology: Towards a New Understanding of Earth's Deep Interior'.
Future oceans sensitive to acidification A wide range of chemical and microbiological processes influence the acidity of natural waters. Andreas Hofmann gained his doctorate on 12 May from Utrecht University for a new method developed to accurately measure the acidity of water. With this new method, different chemical processes can be represented at the same time. How each process affects the pH value can also be determined.