Internships at the Department of Environmental Science

Student area Environmental Science

Below you will find an overview of Bachelor and Master projects that are offered by the Department of Environmental Science.

For the student’s convenience we have subdivided them in topics dealing with:
1. Biodiversity assessment: focuses on the responses of species and ecosystems to various anthropogenic pressures and changes in the environment;
2. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment (HERA): focuses on the emission, fate, accumulation and toxicity of chemicals;
3. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): estimates the impacts of production and consumption on human health and biodiversity through various changes in the environment, including climate change, eutrophication, acidification, chemical pollution and land use changes.
4. Sustainability Transition Assessment (STA) relates to sustainability transitions in the industrial and energy sectors

This subdivision links up with the department’s research themes.

1. Biodiversity assessment

Topic	Level		Supervisor(s)
Understanding patterns and drivers of mammalian home ranges	BSc	MSc	Marlee_Tucker M.Tucker@science.ru.nl Maarten_Broekman M.Broekman@science.ru.nl
Quantifying the impacts of human pressures on biodiversity at large scales (general topic)	-	MSc	Hadassa_Moreira h.moreira@science.ru.nl
Where to expand and establish new protected areas?	-	MSc	Koen_Kuipers (koen.kuipers@ru.nl) Marlee_Tucker (marlee.tucker@ru.nl), Aafke_Schipper (a.schipper@science.ru.nl)
Cross-disciplinary scaling of hydrological, chemical, biological, medical and socio-economic quantities as function of molecular, catchment, organism or city size for fundamental understanding and environmental assessment (pdf, 80 kB)		MSc	Jan Hendriks jan.hendriks@ru.nl & specific disciplinary experts
Has African elephant space use changed over time?	-	MSc	Marlee Tucker marlee.tucker@ru.nl
How does group size effect home range size?	-	MSc	Marlee Tucker marlee.tucker@ru.nl
How well does the global network of protected areas cover the tree of life? (pdf, 294 kB)	-	MSc	Hadassa_Moreira h.moreira@science.ru.nl Aafke Schipper a.schipper@science.ru.nl
How does species richness change across spatial scales and geographic regions (pdf, 108 kB)	-	MSc	Koen_Kuipers k.kuipers@science.ru.nl Aafke_Schipper a.schipper@science.ru.nl
Modelling the global distribution of key disease vector species (pdf, 155 kB)	-	MSc	Floris Neijnens floris.neijnens@ru.nl Aafke Schipper a.schipper@science.ru.nl
How may agriculture benefit biodiversity? (pdf, 115 kB)		MSc	Koen Kuipers Koen.Kuipers@science.ru.nl Jelle Hilbers J.Hilbers@science.ru.nl Aafke Schipper A.Schipper@science.ru.nl
Clash of the titans: The battle for dominance between European sturgeon and Atlantic sturgeon during the Holocene	-	MSc	Rob Lenders R.Lenders@science.ru.nl
Of mice and men: Tracing the global invasion history of the common house mouse (Mus musculus) (pdf, 157 kB)	-	MSc	Rob Lenders R.Lenders@science.ru.nl
Iconic predators of Europe: What can we learn from the history of large predatory mammals distribution in Europe during the Holocene? (pdf, 230 kB)	-	MSc	Rob Lenders R.Lenders@science.ru.nl
Species occurrence and species richness–phosphorus relationships for lakes and streams worldwide (pdf, 28 kB)	BSc	MSc	Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl
Seagrass ecology, brown tides, invasive species, connectivity, restoration, ecosystem services and sea turtle grazing in the Dutch Caribben (pdf, 319 kB) (ppt)	-	MSc	Marieke_van_Katwijk M.vanKatwijk@science.ru.nl Tjeerd Bouma Marjolijn Christianen Tjisse_van_der_Heide Brigitta_van_Tussenbroek
Historical references for fish in the Rhine and Meuse catchment area (pdf, 129 kB)	-	MSc	Rob Lenders R.Lenders@science.ru.nl

2. Human and Ecological Risk Assessment (HERA)

Topic	Level		Supervisor(s)
Development of QSAR model to predict biodegradation of pharmaceuticals (pdf, 133 kB)	BSc	MSc	Tolga Ayeri tolga.ayeri@ru.nl
Assessing environmental impacts of chemical	BSc	MSc	Fiona Wang jiaqi.wang@ru.nl
Exploring the impact of pharmaceuticals on the aquatic environment (pdf, 147 kB)	BSc	MSc	Cristiana_Cannata cristiana.cannata@ru.nl
Big brown data: analyzing field data on chemicals of emerging concern in wastewater from Nijmegen	-	MSc	Caterina Zillien caterina.zillien@ru.nl Ad Ragas
Food chain accumulation of Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Arctic: warm-blooded species including humans (pdf, 76 kB)	-	MSc	Jan Hendriks jan.hendriks@ru.nl Fiona Wang Renske_Hoondert (KWR)
Cross-disciplinary scaling of hydrological, chemical, biological, medical and socio-economic quantities as function of molecular, catchment, organism or city size for fundamental understanding and environmental assessment (pdf, 80 kB)	-	MSc	Jan Hendriks jan.hendriks@ru.nl & specific disciplinary experts
PFAS risk assessment: Picking up the pieces (pdf, 78 kB)	-	MSc	Jan Hendriks jan.hendriks@ru.nl & specific experts (e.g. from RIVM)
Field data driven model of macro- and mesoplastic dynamics on river bank (pdf, 396 kB)	BSc	MSc	Stephanie Oswald & Frank Collas f.collas@science.ru.nl
Mechanical degradation of riverine plastics in the water column (pdf, 78 kB)	BSc	MSc	Stephanie Oswald & Frank Collas f.collas@science.ru.nl
Plastic from the river Rhine: what does it weigh? (pdf, 79 kB)	BSc	MSc	Stephanie Oswald & Frank Collas f.collas@science.ru.nl
Modelling ethanol exposure of health workers from disinfectants (pdf, 114 kB)	-	MSc	Ad Ragas ad.ragas@ru.nl Fiona Wang Paul Scheepers
Optimizing a generic fish PBK model for pharmaceuticals (pdf, 514 kB)	-	MSc	Ad Ragas ad.ragas@ru.nl Fiona Wang
Explaining high dioxin levels in large grazers (pdf, 82 kB)	BSc	-	Ad Ragas ad.ragas@ru.nl
A holistic framework for integrated sustainability assessment of pharmaceuticals (pdf, 81 kB)	BSc	MSc	Ad Ragas ad.ragas@ru.nl
The removal of pharmaceutical compounds in advanced wastewater treatments	-	MSc	Francesco_Bregoli f.bregoli@science.ru.nl Ad Ragas ad.ragas@ru.nl
Pharmaceuticals in the environment: secondary poisoning modelling in freshwater and terrestrial compartments (pdf, 610 kB)	-	MSc	Ad Ragas a.ragas@fnwi.ru.nl Francesco_Bregoli f.bregoli@science.ru.nl Jan Hendriks
Screening ‘green’ substances via species sensitivity distributions (pdf, 416 kB)	BSc	MSc	Leo_Posthuma L.Posthuma@sciece.ru.nl Tom Nolte T.Nolte@science.ru.nl Jan Hendriks A.J.Hendriks@science.ru.nl
Analysis of molecular target sequences for explaining differences in toxic sensitivity between species (pdf, 181 kB)	-	MSc	Ad Ragas A.Ragas@science.ru.nl
The influence of enviro-chemical characteristics on ecosystem exposure to ionizable organic compounds (pdf, 139 kB)	BSc	MSc	Ad Ragas A.Ragas@science.ru.nl Tom Nolte tom.m.nolte@gmail.com
Effect factors for saltwater toxicity compared to freshwater toxicity and its statistical uncertainties (pdf, 81 kB)	BSc	MSc	Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl
To model or not to model: applying the parsimony principle in fate and effect modelling of chemicals (pdf, 70 kB)	-	MSc	Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl
Explaining species sensitivity to toxic chemicals (pdf, 65 kB)	-	MSc	Ad Ragas A.Ragas@science.ru.nl
How to protect polar regions: Fate and accumulation of persistent organic pollutants in the warming Arctic (pdf, 18 kB)		MSc	Jan Hendriks A.J.Hendriks@science.ru.nl
A quantitative comparison of ecological cycles and circular economy in environmental problems and sustainable solutions (pdf, 12 kB)		MSc	Jan Hendriks A.J.Hendriks@science.ru.nl Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl

3. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Topic	Level		Supervisor(s)
Estimating the environmental impacts of EU’s consumption from the global bioeconomy (pdf, 140 kB)	-	MSc	Jetashree jetashree.jetashree@ru.nl Birka Wicke birka.wicke@ru.nl
The Carbon footprint of NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) conferences (pdf, 94 kB)	-	MSc	Mark_Huijbregts M.Huijbregts@science.ru.nl Arno_Kentgens_(NMR) A.Kentgens@nmr.ru.nl
Environmental benefits of utilising Azolla biomass from nature-based wastewater treatment	-	MSc	Steef Hanssen Steef.Hanssen@ru.nl Lisanne_Hendriks (Aq._Ecol._&_Env._Biology)
Carbon offsetting. Quantifying the role of offsetting in corporate emission reduction targets. (docx, 22 kB)	BSc	MSc	Carlijn_Hendriks carlijn.hendriks@ru.nl Birka Wicke birka.wicke@ru.nl
Carbon offsetting. Analysing the quality of carbon offsets certification schemes. (docx, 22 kB)	BSc	MSc	Carlijn_Hendriks carlijn.hendriks@ru.nl Birka Wicke birka.wicke@ru.nl
Variability in atmospheric chemistry modeling of primary and secondary particles for application in environmental footprint calculations (pdf, 200 kB)	-	MSc	Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl (in_collaboration_with TNO Utrecht)
CO₂ footprint of Astronomical Instrumentation and the Astronomical community worldwide	-	MSc	Mark_Huijbregts M.Huijbregts@science.ru.nl (Environmental_Science) Gijs_Nelemans nelemans@astro.ru.nl (Astrophysics)
How does the environmental footprint of food vary between diets and individuals? (pdf, 159 kB)	-	MSc	Thomas_Hennequin thomas.hennequin@ru.nl Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl
Assessing the effect of feeding regime on the nitrogen and greenhouse gas footprint of fish production in recirculating aquaculture systems			S._Lücker/M._van_Kessel (Microbiology) Mark_Huijbregts (Environmental_Science) Contact: Maartje.vanKessel@science.ru.nl
Comparing greenhouse gas emissions for different nitrogen removal technologies in wastewater treatment	-	MSc	S._Lücker/M._van_Kessel (Microbiology) Mark_Huijbregts (Environmental_Science) Contact: Maartje.vanKessel@science.ru.nl
Assessing the carbon footprint of a European-African collaborative malaria clinical trial (pdf, 596 kB)		MSc	Steef Hanssen s.hanssen@science.ru.nl, Teun Bousema (Radboud_UMC) teun.bousema@radboudumc.nl
How to protect polar regions: Fate and accumulation of persistent organic pollutants in the warming Arctic (pdf, 18 kB)		MSc	Jan Hendriks A.J.Hendriks@science.ru.nl
Understanding environmental problems and identifying sustainable solutions by scaling of water, carbon, mineral and material flows in catchments, ecosystems and societies (pdf, 12 kB)		MSc	Jan Hendriks A.J.Hendriks@science.ru.nl
How can we use learning curves to predict future environmental impacts of new technologies? (pdf, 121 kB)	BSc	MSc	Mitchell_van_der_Hulst mitchell.vanderhulst@ru.nl Mark_Huijbregts M.Huijbregts@science.ru.nl
Estimating life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions based on (technical) characteristics of PV panels (pdf, 376 kB)		MSc	Tine Dammeier L.Dammeier@science.ru.nl Mark_Huijbregts M.Huijbregts@science.ru.nl
Emission of pollutants: From understanding time trends and regional patterns to predicting the future (pdf, 16 kB)		MSc	Jan Hendriks A.J.Hendriks@science.ru.nl Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl
A quantitative comparison of ecological cycles and circular economy in environmental problems and sustainable solutions (pdf, 12 kB)		MSc	Jan Hendriks A.J.Hendriks@science.ru.nl Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl
Can we mitigate climate change by replacing fossil fuels with bioenergy? (pdf, 229 kB)	BSc	MSc	Steef_Hanssen S.Hanssen@science.ru.nl
Update fate, exposure and effects model USES-LCA with latest research and perform model calculations (pdf, 146 kB)	BSc	MSc	Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl
Health damage due to microbes: developing characterization factors for use in life cycle impact assessment (pdf, 78 kB)	-	MSc	Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl
To model or not to model: applying the parsimony principle in fate and effect modelling of chemicals (pdf, 70 kB)	-	MSc	Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl
Effect factors for saltwater toxicity compared to freshwater toxicity and its statistical uncertainties (pdf, 81 kB)	BSc	MSc	Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl
Green chemistry, cradle to grave, or circular economy (pdf, 100 kB)	-	MSc	Rosalie_van_Zelm Rosalie.vanZelm@ru.nl

4. Sustainability Transition Assessment (STA)

Topic	Level		Supervisor(s)
Can ecosystem restoration mitigate climate change?	-	MSc	Irene Ascenzi (irene.ascenzi@ru.nl) Steef Hanssen or Jelle Hilbers
Environmental benefits of utilising Azolla biomass from nature-based wastewater treatment	-	MSc	Steef Hanssen Steef.Hanssen@ru.nl Lisanne Hendriks (Aq. Ecol. & Env. Biology)

What if the very rich started polluting like the rest of us?	BSc	-	Steef Hanssen Steef.Hanssen@ru.nl Carlijn Hendriks carlijn.hendriks@ru.nl

Last update: 22 September 2023

Internships at the Department of Environmental Science

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