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Excite Network and Wetsus Workshop
X-ray Imaging for Sustainable Water Research
13:30-17:00, Wetsus Atrium. The online registration is now closed. Please register on-site if you still wish to attend.
The Excite (Electron and X-ray microscopy Community for structural and chemical Imaging Techniques for Earth materials) is the leading European electron and X-ray imaging infrastructure network. The network consists of 24 facilities located at 15 research institute across 9 European countries. The network is also expanding and would like to extend their research topics from geology into climate change and sustainability. It provides free-of-charge access to their facilities to Wetsus researchers and other partners. The facilities includes FeSEM, TEM, MicroCT, NanoSIMs etc. The workshop will look at the different ways in which microscopy can be applied to environmental samples and the procedures required to access the facility. There will be presentations by researchers from Ghent University, Wetsus and our university partners who have applied these advanced techniques in their water and environmental related research.
Prof. V. Cnudde is a geologist and full professor at Ghent University, Belgium, where she is the Research Director of the Faculty of Sciences. She holds the chair “Porous media imaging Techniques” at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. She is a geologist and leads the PProGRess team at the UGent Geology department and is one of the coordinators of the Ghent University Core facility “Centre for X-ray tomography” (UGCT) which units an interdisciplinary team of researchers with expertise in X-ray CT imaging. Since 2012 she is member of the Proposal Review Committee (PRC) of the Swiss Synchrotron (SLS-PSI) (Switzerland) at the CSAXS (Coherent small angle X-ray scattering) and TOMCAT (A beamline for TOmographic Microscopy and Coherent rAdiology experimenTs ) beamlines.
Since 2018, she is the chair of TOMCAT’s PRC. She is currently active in the EU-ETN SUBLime on “Sustainable Building Lime Applications via Circular Economy and Biomimetic Approaches” (2021-2025) as one of the supervisors. At Utrecht, she secured in 2021 the prestigious personal 1.5 M€ VICI grant from NWO on the use of X-ray CT to study the bio-protection of stone using bacteria and in 2023 she obtained, together with her Dutch colleagues 18 M€ to set up the large-scale research infrastructure, “EPOS-eNLarge: Bridging scales and borders for sustainability in Earth sciences”. She currently coordinates the European INFRAIA (H202 European Research infrastructure: “Integrating and opening European Research infrastructures”) project “EXCITE: Electron and X-ray microscopy Community for structural and chemical Imaging Techniques for Earth materials” (5M€, 2021-2024), which joins 15 different European top facilities at 9 different countries to contribute to science. This EXCITE Network has established a solid foundation in providing transnational access (TNA), offering training and guidance to European and global researchers at various career stages. In 2023, the follow-up “EXCITE2: Enhanced X(cross)-disciplinary Community-driven Imaging Technologies for Earth and Environmental material research” (2024-2028) was approved for 14.5M€ by Horizon Europe in the call ‘Horizon-INFRA-2023-SEV-01-01: Research infrastructure services to enable R&I addressing main challenges and EU priorities). EXCITE2 units 19 partners in 12 European and associated partner countries.
13:30 – 13:40 Opening and welcome by Dr. Cristina Gagliano (Wetsus)
13:40 – 14:10 Prof. Veerle Cnudde (UGent, keynote speaker): X-ray imaging to understand pore scale processes
14:10 – 14:30 Dr. Laurenz Schröer (UGent): Visualizing biofilms within opaque materials using micro-computed tomography + EXCITE Network
14:30 – 14:40 Dr. Jafar Qajar (UU): Microfluidic investigations of interactions between microorganisms and ionic strength: Implications for salt crystallization in porous media
14:40 – 14:50 Soetkin Barbaix (UGent /UU): The dynamic fluid flow – biogeochemical reactivity relationship during underground hydrogen storage
14:50 – 15:00 Hanne De Lathauwer (UGent): Tiny, yet big impact? Towards unraveling the interactions between microplastics and natural sedimentary rocks
15:00 – 15:30 Break
15:30 – 15:50 Dr. Xiaoxia Liu (Wetsus): Using imaging techniques to understand the influence of magnetic fields on microbial calcium carbonate precipitation in drinking water
15:50 – 16:10 Dr. ir. Annemerel R. Mol (WUR): Sulfur crystal growth control in pilot scale biological gas desulfurization
16:10 – 16:30 Dr. Barbara Vital (SusPhos): Using microscopy to determine the level of pre-treatment of fresh and sea water required to manage fouling in reverse electrodialysis
16: 30 – 16:50 Dr. Carlo Belloni (Wetsus): Investigating the effects of iron (hydr)oxide nanoparticles manipulations on speciation, size, habit, and crystallinity
16:50 – 18:00 Networking drinks
The online registration is now closed. Please register on-site if you still wish to attend.
Abstract
The realisation of a circular economy has thus far unfolded under the assumption that it would fit within existing economic arrangements. In practice, we witness many circular initiatives struggling to give shape to their ambitions, let alone develop to maturity. These past months, various material recycling organisations terminated their activities, seeing virgin alternatives from other parts of the world flooding the market at prices against they cannot compete. If the transition towards a circular economy (i.e. an economy of value preservation) is to be taken seriously, a new perspective on value in our economic system seems unavoidable, as the rewriting of the rules of the economic game. At this moment, current perceptions of value stand in the way of this transition both at micro as well as macro levels. Several contours for a collective exploration of new directions of value and economic configuration that foster circular transition will be addressed.
Abstract
In his key note he will conclude after a life of innovations that it is impossible that humanity will stay within the save planetary boundaries with innovation only. We should be more critical about the behaviour of the rich population in the world and more critical about new innovations that prove to be dangerous, like the PFAS crisis shows at this moment. In his keynote he will investigate how to look at the world that can stay within the save planetary boundaries, how should we change ourselves? It is clear if we only talk about the words of science and systems we miss the essential words of how we should cooperate and change ourselves. And his search for coherent save innovations. Which innovations will be save and will lead to a fair and sustainable world? And will lead to a world we want to live in.
Abstract
There is a growing number of new sustainable, inclusive, cohesive, participatory, just and humane economic models. A possible next step in the discourse about them is the comparative analysis in order to find out key commonalities, potential synergies, and “requirements” for a future-fit economic model. The author and initiator of the Economy for the Common Good provides an overview of these „new sustainable economic models“ and compares them according to underlying values, principles, and practical ways of implementation. The keynote addresses the cooperative spirit of the conference and prepares the ground for its public highlight on the eve of June 3rd, the round table with representatives of diverse future-fit economic models.
Abstract
The scientific debate on whether economies should always continue to grow increasingly becomes a political and societal debate. On the one hand further growth for the most affluent countries seems neither possible nor valuable, but on the other hand there is still lack of understanding and knowledge what a non-growing economy should look like and could best be governed. In this lecture we discuss various policy measures that can be realistically implemented, take into account government finances and aim at a higher quality of life despite a non-growing economy.
Abstract
Democracy is under pressure, and less and less able to stir the economy into a sustainable direction. Therefore, to stabilize democracy and to make possible the socio-ecological transformation of the economy, democratic principles need to be implemented directly in the economy. This is not only a matter of morality, but also has practical advantages. Democratizing the economy can increase legitimacy and take advantage of the “knowledge of the many” to accelerate the transformation. Democratic practices, especially deliberation, allow bringing together different forms of knowledge, which is crucial for the local implementation of principles of social and ecological sustainability. This talk explores what this idea means in more concrete terms, from democratic participation in the workplace to the democratization of time.
Abstract
Over the past decades, markets have conventionally been seen as the best instrument to stimulate economic growth and enhance prosperity and well-being. The automatic link between markets and economic growth is increasingly questioned, however, as well as the automatic link between economic growth and enhancement of well-being. This has led to attempts to capture well-being development more directly than through GDP per capita figures and has produced a more variegated picture of well-being growth. Also, this has led to a shift of focus to other coordination systems than the market, as primarily the state but increasingly also the association. Analyses of the historical record suggest that especially the latter could be a vital component in future well-being.