dr.ir. MJPM (Michel) Riksen

I work since 1998 for Wageningen University at the Soil Physics and Land Management group (SLM). I obtained in 1990 my BSc. in Tropical Agriculture with specialisation in Tropical Soil and Water Management at Larenstein Deventer. In 1994 I finished my MSc. at Wageningen University in Tropical Land Management with a specialisation in Erosion and Soil & Water Conservation. In 1998 I got my first research position in an EU-funded Wind Erosion project. In this project I worked on social-economic and policy aspects of wind erosion in the northern West European region. In 2001 I received a PhD fellowship from the Cornelis Lely Foundation for a research project entitled: “Making use of Wind and Water Erosion in Landscape Development”. In this project I studied the role of soil erosion processes in nature development. I obtained my PhD in 2006 and continued to work on inland drift sands in the Netherlands as a Post. doc. researcher for a National OB+N funded project on inland drift sands. In 2009 I became assistant professor of the SLM group teaching planning and design of soil and water conservation measures and land management strategies. My main research activities are in the field of:

- wind erosion and ( coastal) dune formation in the Netherlands; and

- soil and water conservation / sustainable land management

My publication list covers subjects like social-economic aspects of erosion, conservation policies, soil conservation, wind erosion, geomorphology in landscape ecology, and water harvesting.