Jonathan de Long (UvA): Mitigating drought effects on grassland productivity by understanding grass-fungi-drought soil legacy interactions
Drought events are becoming more frequent and more intense. This results in decreases in grassland productivity and financial losses for farmers. Upon rewetting after drought, so-called drought soil legacy effects can lead to carbon and nitrogen losses from the soil. This could exacerbate the current nitrogen and climate crises. Many grasses form symbioses with fungi that live inside their leaves. These fungi can help the grasses to take up carbon and nitrogen and help them to better cope with drought. To better understand how drought soil legacy effects change grass and fungi relationships, will be useful knowledge in order to maintain productivity, prevent carbon and nitrogen losses to the atmosphere and help to tackle the current nitrogen and climate crises.
Daphne Gnago and Riccardo Bonazza (HvA): MatSwap – use your mattress to the fullest Many students might experience sleeping difficulties as they don’t have the means to afford quality bedding. In the meanwhile, mattress waste is creating consequent environmental issues as most mattresses are disposed of or incinerated before reaching their intended lifespan. MatSwap is […]
Olivier Lugier (UvA): Green synthesis of hybrid core-shell nanoparticles (Nano Hybrids) Nanomaterials are extremely small materials with unique properties due to their size. They are said to revolutionize many technological fields with high societal impact, like sustainable energy, catalysis and biomedicine. The problem is that their synthesis methods are often complex and polluting, which limits […]
Ana Cassanti (VU): VU-UTtual Reality for Responsible and Smart Education: the use of Virtual Reality to democratise environmental sciences teaching The VU-Utual Reality for Responsible and Smart Education aims to use virtual reality to democratize environmental sciences teaching. By making use of virtual reality games, students will get a better understanding of environmental scenarios and […]