SENSE Researcher Lars Hein (Environmental Systems Analysis group, Wageningen University) has been awarded with a prestigious research grant from the European Research Council (ERS).

The ERC grants are the European equivalent of the Veni, Vidi and Vici grants of the Dutch NWO. They are given to promising top researchers with an outstanding CV and research proposal.

Lars Hein receives the grant for his proposal 'EcoSpace: Spatial-Dynamic Modelling of Adaptation Options to Climate Change at the Ecosystem Scale'.

For those who are stuck in their research or who just would like to have a different view on life as a PhD student, we can recommend the website www.phdcomics.com. The website offers an interesting view on the academic world, in a new comic every day. The comics are made by Jorge Cham, who also went through the PhD experience himself. Enjoy!

"To protect species of wild animals and plants..." Are you or do you know an outstanding, talented, young or mid career conservationist? You or your colleague may be eligible for one of the three Future for Nature Awards of € 50.000 each! Interested? Please apply no later than August 29th, 2010, via www.futurefornature.net.

On May the 28th the members of SENSE Research Cluster XIII (Land Use, Spatial Analysis and Modelling / Ecosystem and Landscape Services) had a 'meet & greet' to get to know each other and to think about possibilities to get more out of their research cluster. This activity was a follow-up of the meeting on research cluster developments that was organised by SENSE in December 2009. The group of researchers that attended this meeting was in theory already connected for quite some time (through the internet). However, now it was time to actually meet the people behind this crosscutting research cluster. With interactive discussions and “speed-dates”, great weather and location, and, most importantly, a clear mandate and list of upcoming activities, the afternoon could only be described as the right step forward for “lucky Research Cluster XIII”!

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and is estimated to be responsible for approximately one-fifth of manmade global warming. Per kilogram, it is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 100-year time horizon -- and global warming is likely to enhance methane release from a number of sources. Current natural and man-made sources include many where methane-producing micro-organisms can thrive in anaerobic conditions, particularly ruminant livestock, rice cultivation, landfill, wastewater, wetlands and marine sediments.

This timely and authoritative book, edited by Dave Reay, Pete Smith and André van Amstel, provides the only comprehensive and balanced overview of our current knowledge of sources of methane and how these might be controlled to limit future climate change. It describes how methane is derived from the anaerobic metabolism of micro-organisms, whether in wetlands or rice fields, manure, landfill or wastewater, or the digestive systems of cattle and other ruminant animals. It highlights how sources of methane might themselves be affected by climate change. It is shown how numerous point sources of methane have the potential to be more easily addressed than sources of carbon dioxide and therefore contribute significantly to climate change mitigation in the 21st century.