Sustainable food systems
Our current globalized food system is often at the core of the pressure on sustainable development goals such as life on land, life below water, and water and sanitation, while failing to meet goals such as zero hunger and no poverty. Understanding the causes of the current unsustainable situation and developing solutions to stimulate a
Systems Analysis and Modelling
This course introduces students to systems approaches for analysing ecological and agro-ecosystems through quantitative simulation models. Students learn to formulate and specify dynamic models, evaluate model performance using statistical methods and inverse modelling, and simulate spatial processes using partial differential equations. Topics include population and nutrient dynamics, dispersal, vegetation patterning, and model calibration. Programming is
Teelt, food innovation, bioassays, novel breeding tools
Both larger training programs and short course days. Green biotech in Northern and Central Netherlands
The Power of Microbes
Theory Microbes play an essential role in sustaining higher life forms on Earth, including marine sponges, plants, fish, and animals. Their significance lies in their vast diversity of physiological traits, allowing them to thrive in various environments by extracting energy from organic resources, minerals, and light. In fact, many microbes depend on other microbes for
The Science of Food Systems
The Science of Food Systems course is an introductory course that takes place in the third period of the first year of the Bachelor’s programme Global Sustainability Science. In 2024 the course will run for the first time from February (week 6) to April (week 15), during 10 weeks. This is a track-specific course embedded
Tools in Molecular Data Analysis
This course aims to develop practical skills in data handling, analysis and visualization for large “omics” data commonly found in contemporary plant research. Two domain-specific projects will be addressed: i) RNA-seq analysis and ii) Microbiome analysis. For each project, after introductory lectures on the topic, students will be trained to handle these specific datasets. Afterwards,
Transforming Food Systems
General description of the content This course will focus on the dynamics in food systems globally from a governance and transition studies perspective. We will identify the different actors involved, their roles and interests, and their relationships and interactions. Next, we will focus on processes of transformations towards more sustainable and healthy food systems (at
Transitions, Innovation en Governance
TRIG provides an overview of frameworks and methods to study and guide sustainable innovation, sustainability transitions, in particular socio-technical transitions and their governance, as these are all important to bring about sustainability and transitions to sustainability. Increasing the understanding of the underlying societal mechanisms and processes of sustainable innovation and sustainability transitions is important in
Trends in Plant Reproduction Biology: from Flowers to Seeds
The evolutionary success and enormous diversity among flowering plants is mainly the result of the sexual reproduction process, which starts with flowering and results in the formation of fruits and seeds. This key process is under tight genetic and molecular control, but is also adapted to the environment. How such a conserved process can show
Ziekte en Afweer van Plant en Dier
In dit blok gaan we in op de vragen: Wat zijn (planten)ziekten en plagen? Hoe werkt het immuunsysteem van planten en dieren zoals de mens? De behandelde thema’s zijn: Verschillende klassen van ziekteverwekkers (schimmels, oömyceten, bacteriën, parasitaire planten, nematoden, virussen, en herbivoren), De mechanismen waarmee deze organismen planten binnen dringen, de plantenafweer omzeilen en/of onderdrukken,