In December 2002 I obtained my MSc-degree in marine biology at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. After my graduation I started working as a Project Scientist for the British NGO ‘Coral Cay Conservation’ (CCC), which is a non-profit organisation that trains volunteers to collect scientific data to aid coral reef conservation. As Project Scientist for the Bay Islands Project in Honduras I was responsible for overseeing CCC scientific training and surveys in collaboration with local project partners. In 2005, I successfully applied for a NWO-WOTRO PhD-grant after which I started my PhD-project at the department of Marine Ecology, NIOZ, in October 2006. Having finished my PhD-thesis concerning the functioning of the intertidal flat system of the Banc d'Arguin, Mauritania in November 2013, I started as a post-doctoral fellow in the department of Animal Ecology at the University of Groningen. Here, I studied the foraging behaviour of breeding Eurasian spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) using GPS-transmitters. In 2015, I successfully applied for a CEMEB-LABEX postdoctoral fellowship to work for 2 years at the University of Montpellier where I investigated how mutualistic networks can increase resilience of seagrasses to global change. Currently, I work as a researcher at Wageningen Marine Research (WMR) within a project where we aim to develop an integrated sustainable coastal management (NEXUS) approach for small tropical island developing states, using Bonaire as a case study. Central to my work is a multidisciplinary approach that combines field observations, manipulative (field and laboratory) experiments, theory and mathematical modelling, with the ultimate goal to aid marine ecosystem management and conservation.
Day 5. Sunny side up In the distance we see only some lights from Statia and Saba and beyond that, the light of the moon, the stars and the sound of the waves crashing on the Caribbean Explorer II. While we spent the last few nights near Saba, we will…
