Search
Log in
A PhD is a journey, says about-to-defend PhD candidate Vania Scarlet Chavez Rico. An exploration that your prepare for; you never know where it takes you along the road, but it has a satisfying goal to achieve. She tells her story of mapping the figurative seven seas with her exploration vessel as one of the first Wetsus soil scientists.
The people behind the science, and the science behind the people.
Learning on steroids
“I’ve always liked learning,” Vania begins, “reading books, encyclopedias when I was little and the interest for environmental problems and nature motivated me to study environmental engineering and biology in university. “
“In my country Bolivia, the lecturers in the universities are closer to the students. That does not mean that it help with our marks. In fact, failing was more shameful.” she says laughingly. “Some of them always showed passion about science and had several historical references according to the topic that we were learning at the time. One of my calculus lecturers once compared the beauty of Euler’s identity with the Mona Lisa. I looked up to these people and wanted to do a PhD for myself. After all, a PhD is like learning on steroids, and that’s a lot of fun to me.”
As she progressed in her studies, learning a wide range of disciplines, she experienced what life was like for some remote villages in her home country Bolivia while volunteering – no clean water, no electricity, and people dying young. It inspired her to dedicate her master’s degree to environmental sanitation in Gent, Belgium.
Hay and dog food
Vania: “I learned about Wetsus in a job fair in Belgium, and it sounded like a perfect match. Applicable research, lots of contact with industry. And they were looking for someone with experience in soil science and bioreactors, something I both had.” To make additives from organic waste to increase organic matter in agricultural soils.
It was the early beginning of this research theme, and little infrastructure for the scientific field was in place. Everything had to be built from scratch. “Sometimes, I had to do assumptions that were not always right while waiting for equipment to come. To have a proper soil lab we would need another building with special installations. It was a struggle to get all the analysis techniques ready. . Luckily, I have great supervisors who were happy to help so I could learn some techniques and send samples to other research institute And I got support from all my co-authors.”
And her quest to compare soil additives – or organic amendments – was not an easy breakdown either. The grounds and additives are so variable and complex that every little parameter you can imagine must be tested and controlled.
Starting with a hundred kilograms of farmland dirt, she had to prepare by burning them clean to create the perfect model soil. And finding materials to make the steady organic amendments isn’t self-evident either. Normally, they are made from waste materials that, of course, change all the time and per season. But, after deliberation with her supervisors, Vania found a way to do this too, funnily after complex analysis landing on simple straw and dog food (as model domestic food waste) as source materials.
An exploration vessel
In the end, she did manage to find trends and correlation between organic amendment production conditions and the effects on soil characteristics and what is better to use to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This was represented in a scheme that could be seen as a first trial to develop a comprehensive model to engineer organic amendments. The set-up used in this project, has been useful to analyze the complex soil environment. Its effect over time, And, importantly, a consistent way to make and measure both the soil and organic amendments.
“I am very happy to have been able to stick to the original topic and complete the journey. We built a ship preparing for the exploration, hoping for the best but prepared for the worst, and it survived the storm while we were mapping our surroundings. A bumpy challenging ride, lots of work, but with so many people willing to help.”
It hasn’t decreased her love for learning and researching, though. “R&D or a Post-doc is still something I’m looking for, but maybe this time with a little less writing,” she adds smilingly.
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.
