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Stopping climate change requires cooperation between young people and scientists
Young people are the generation that will suffer the effects of climate change the longest. At an Expert Meeting of Social Sciences and Humanities on Climate & Young People, they called on researchers to share their knowledge more actively and work with them. This benefits young people, but so do scientists.
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Safe on the road with self-driving cars and human drivers
We are entering a long transition period in traffic with human drivers and automated vehicles sharing the roads. In the SAMEN-project scientists, road operators and automotive industries collaboratively studied mixed traffic interactions to help ensure traffic safety and flow.
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‘There’s a great deal to be said about silence’
Gerlov van Engelenhoven is a cultural scientist who has had a lifelong fascination with ‘garrulous silence’ –silence that is hidden behind words. “When you consciously don’t say something, you are in fact also saying something. Silence can be a weapon, or a shield.”
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Unravelling social processes with data and computing power
Social scientists have a powerful new instrument at their disposal. With a combination of datasets and a supercomputer, they are now able to finds answers for novel research questions. 'Nowhere else in the world is it possible to link administrative data with data from open surveys.'
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Storytellers
Science communication cuts two ways. In the first place, researchers can disseminate their knowledge and explain its relevance. Meanwhile, outreach through books, presentations and media can increase the general public’s scientific literacy and promote the dialogue between the science community and society. This mission is at the heart of the three projects described below.
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The golden triangle for clean surface water
Even trace amounts of pharmaceutical micropollutants in household wastewater can significantly impact aquatic life, the environment and, ultimately, humans. Effectively removing these compounds requires an additional stage in wastewater treatment. Close collaboration between researchers and supply chain stakeholders has yielded a promising, affordable and sustainable alternative by means of zeolite granules.
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Making complicated matters simple through outreach
Inspiring people and getting them excited about science. That is what Jildou Hollander finds so fun and important about outreach. The 25-year-old PhD student at the University of Amsterdam is researching black holes. A complicated subject, which she nevertheless manages to make accessible to a wide audience.
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Precision record ion measurement gives pharmaceutical research a new boost
In high school, she was already fascinated by the way her teacher talked about physics and chemistry. Now, Evolène Deslignière is busy pioneering her own discoveries in the same field. Her team’s latest discovery has created the opportunity to study ions more precisely. In the future, it may even have an impact on gene therapy and other medical treatments.
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Social solutions to fight disease rather than medical ones
People in low socio-economic positions on average live six years shorter than those in higher positions. How do you make sure these health differences are reduced? For that, you don't need to do research after vulnerable groups, but research with them. Such is the approach of a major research programme in which citizen science is the driving force.
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Programme Computing Time: researchers from all disciplines calculate on the supercomputer
Not money, but time. Rather than being awarded funding for research, successful applicants in the Computing Time on National Computer Facilities programme are allocated valuable computing time on the powerful national computer systems. In the little more than twenty years since the programme was established, the supercomputers have been used by scientists to solve complex mathematical calculations, but also by researchers in numerous other fields of science.
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In view: Putting green dikes to the test
In September 2023, three hundred square metres of clay and vegetation from salt marshes in Friesland were transported across the country for a unique experiment. At the Delta Flume in Delft, a team of researchers led by Bas Borsje, Associate Professor of Nature-based Flood Protection at the University of Twente, used the salt-marsh vegetation to construct a full-scale simulation of a dike in order to test the impact of extreme artificial waves on it. The question they set out to answer was this: can a nature-based solution in the form of a green dike protect us against extreme superstorms in the future?
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