Coen J. Ritsema

Coen Ritsema, Professor at Wageningen University and Chair of the Soil Physics and Land Management group, has more than 30 years of experience in fundamental and applied research in the area of soil and water related sciences, and coordinating large (inter)national multidisciplinary research projects and programmes. During the last decade, he coordinated numerous EU-funded projects involving partners from around the world. His interest has been focused on land-hydrology interactions at different spatial and temporal scales, with special attention to soil physical and chemical processes, and soil degradation and conservation issues. He has published around 150 research papers in refereed international scientific journals, and is (co-)editor of 8 special issues. Furthermore, he has been granted three Honorary/Guest Professorships at i) Deakin University, Australia (2004), ii) the Chinese Academy of Sciences at the Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Yangling, China (2008), and iii) Moscow State University of Environmental Engineering, Russia (2009). He received the Distinguished Researcher Award of the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation in 2013. Additionally he is member of the scoping group land degradation and restoration of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (UNEP-UNESCO-FAO-UNDP), and involved in several other commissions inside and outside the Netherlands.