Living It up in a Uni Flat ‘On Friday Mornings the Floor Was Covered in Muck’ | P.12 2 >> Picture

Past tense Celebrations Cheating No more research at Restaurant of Not to be missed: 10 centenary New checklist against food fraud | p.22 | the Future | p.6 | events | p.16 | RESOURCEFor everyone at Wageningen University & Research no 13 – 22 February 2018 – 12th Volume Living it up in a uni flat ‘On Friday mornings the floor was covered in muck’ | p.12 2 >> picture BANANA ART Panama disease is a major global threat to banana pro duction. WUR has been doing research on this problem for years, but outside academia most people are bliss fully unaware of it. Researcher Fernando GarcíaBastidas seeks to change that and he is using a surprising medi um: banana art. Stephan Brusche, who goes by the name iSteef, discovered a few years ago that you could draw nicely on bananas. His photos will be on display in Impulse until 22 March. KvZ, photo iSteef Watch the video on resource-online.nl RESOURCE — 22 February 2018 PHOTO COVER: GUY ACKERMANS >>CONTENTS no 13 – 12th volume >> 8 >> 20 >> 24 JAB FRANKENSTEIN FRESH BLOOD Vaccinating badgers can stamp out TB The unforeseen consequences of Imitate an animal at the Winter AID innovations PASSING THE BUCK Students have every reason to complain. They lost the basic grant but the gover nment promised they would get better education in return. The saving of 900 million euros would be spent on more teachers. The universities were supposed to have invested 600 million in education in recent years, as agreed with the AND MORE... government. Now students feel they were sold down the river, and the national 4 Row about online lecture audit office agrees. For universities have only actually invested an extra 280 mil resolved lion in teachers. The rest of the ‘extra education money’ can’t be traced. The 4 New MSc in Biobased Sciences Dutch parliament calls it a scandal. Now, an analysis by the 4TU Federation (see 5 Longlist for Teacher of the Year p. 6) shows what has happened to the education money at the technical universi 8 Humans are source of antibiotic ties. They can’t take on any extra teachers because direct government funding resistance for research has fallen in recent years. The government is making more money 9 Weak fungi available for teaching but less for research, so the funding for education is being 10 Spread of diarrhoea parasite spent on research. Meanwhile, everyone is busy presenting the figures in ways mapped that suggest that their own organization is blameless and the problem lies else 18 The last big celebration where. That’s called passing the buck. High time for students to treat the Educa 26 New sports at the GNSK tion minister to some oldfashioned protests. 27 Meanwhile in Italy 29 Aquatic life in Nepal Albert Sikkema >> The turbo tree of the future is growing in Zeewolde | p.7 22 February 2018 — RESOURCE 4 >> news NEW MASTER’S: BIOBASED SCIENCES WUR wants to start a new the interdisciplinary modules. There is a lot of knowledge in tions, one of which is Biobased Master’s degree in Biobased They want to see an example ex- Wageningen about the different and Circular Economy,’ says Sciences in September. The am, but modules such as the Cir- kinds of biomass and how to Isken. idea is that it will be a multidis- cular Economy and Principles in process them. All that knowl- When asked whether Wagen- ciplinary programme focussing Biobased Economy don’t even edge is now being bundled to- ingen might be a bit late with on knowledge of the production exist yet. We’ve developed course gether in the new Master’s. The this degree, Isken says the idea and processing of biomass and materials but no exams so far. So Master’s students will learn how arose back in 2006 but the differ- the introduction of a circular - now we need to work on that.’ to develop the different kinds of ent steps involved in setting up a economy model. However, the The intention is that the new biomass, in other words the pri- Master’s degree cost time. ‘We Accreditation Organisation of Master’s will prepare students to mary production. Then the started with optional modules, the Netherlands and Flanders work on a future in which we are course will deal with conversion with minors, then we introduced (NVAO) has yet to give its final less dependent on fossil raw ma- of the biomass into useful prod- those optional courses into the verdict. terials, says Isken. ‘Our entire ucts. A third topic is the circular Bachelor’s. After that, we looked economy is based on petroleum; economy using biomass as the at how the research was develop- A delegation from the NVAO our energy, our materials, plas- raw materials. ing and included modules in the came to campus on Friday 16 tics, pharmaceuticals. We want The Master’s is suitable for various Master’s programmes. February to assess the new Mas- to make the transition to differ- Bachelor’s students with a sci- Once there was enough body to ter’s. The committee was posi- ent forms of biomass as the ence background, for example in set up an entire degree pro- tive but also made a caveat. foundation for our economy. Plant Sciences, Biotechnology or gramme, we submitted an appli- Sonja Isken, the intended pro- Think of maize, the stalks from Biochemistry. ‘But economists cation.’ gramme director: ‘The members maize and soya or seaweed and can also do this Master’s be- The NVAO will give its final want to know how we will test algae.’ cause we have three specializa- decision on 22 March. KvZ ROW ABOUT REMOVAL OF LECTURE RESOLVED The online lecture that was taken offline after a complaint from a property company is available on YouTube again. But emeritus professor of Land Use Planning Arnold van der Valk is going to record his lecture again. Van der Valk caused a stir on Tuesday by accus- ing Wageningen University & Research in the media of spineless behaviour. The university had removed an online lecture of his from the inter- net. In the lecture, the professor had used the case of the Amsterdam care farm De Boterbloem to illustrate how politics, power and money in- fluence spatial planning decisions. According to property developer SADC, named in the case study, Van der Valk makes in- accurate statements and falsely implies that the AMS IMAGE: care farm has been chased off the site. The com- The disputed video in which emeritus professor Arnold van der Valk describes the situation surround pany complained to the coordinator of the ing De Boterbloem care farm. MOOC (massive online open course) that the online lecture was part of. The coordinator pro- paints too one-sided a picture of the situation to Van der Valk about a new version of the lec- ceeded to remove the lecture, much to Van der around the care farm. ‘There should be more nu- ture to be recorded soon. Vink: ‘It is a question Volk’s annoyance. ‘I blame the culture of fear ance and less black-and-white thinking in that of minor adjustments, which do not affect the that often governs large organizations. This per- kind of analysis. The teachers responsible for main storyline.’ According to Van de Valk, all son has opted for the line of least resistance, at the MOOC also said later that they should have that is needed is a couple of sentences empha- my expense. That is why I went on the offensive seen that.’ Vink sees the situation as an illustra- sizing that parties in a conflict situation have di- when journalists called.’ tion of the difference between lectures in the vergent perceptions of reality. ‘I have no problem WUR spokesperson Simon Vink regrets the classroom and online ones. ‘In the classroom, with such a addition. But I don’t take back any- instant removal of the lecture. ‘That was a mis- the teachers can guide the discussion. Online, thing I said, because it is all based on facts.’ The take. It would have been better to contact Arnold everyone can give the content their own twist.’ adapted version of the online lecture will go on- van der Valk first.’ Vink does think the lecture The coordinator of the MOOC has now talked line on 6 March. LvdN RESOURCE — 22 February 2018 news << 5 FIVE NEWCOMERS FOR TEACHER OF THE YEAR OLUMN|GUIDO Five teachers are in the run- in Environmental Sciences © ALL THE NOMINEES ning for the Teacher of the and Animal Sciences re- Year Award for the first time. spectively. Sonja Isken is • John Beijer They are Hannie van der programme director for the • Fred de Boer Roos Vonk Honing, Sonja Isken, Fred de Food Microbiology degree • Henry van den Brand MP Thierry Baudet and TV weatherman Ger- Boer, Sander Gussekloo and programme. • Frits Claassen rit Hiemstra got into a row about climate Pim de Zwart. True to tradition, there • Julia Diederen change. Baudet challenged Hiemstra to a de- are plenty of ex-winners • Jessica Duncan bate to resolve the matter, but Hiemstra re- Along with 11 others, these and previous nominees on • Maria Forlenza fused, arguing: ‘There’s always debate in sci- five stand a chance of win- the longlist this year. Apart • Sander Gussekloo ence, but mainstream science is actually ning the Teacher of the from the five newcomers, • Hannie van der Honing quite unanimous when it comes to climate Year Award 2018 at the end everyone on the list has • Sonja Isken change. However, semi-scientific climate of April.

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