Hester Biemans appointed as special professor Integrated assessment of water and crop production

Hester Biemans studied Applied Physics at the University of Twente and Environmental Sciences at Radboud University in Nijmegen. After her studies, she first spent a year travelling around Europe and Asia by bicycle. In 2003, she started working as a researcher at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (then RIVM). After 3 years, she changed to Wageningen Environmental Research (formerly Alterra), where she obtained her PhD in 2012 for research on the effects of water shortage on future food production. In this research, conducted jointly with the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, she researched the role of large-scale water storage in reservoirs in the irrigation of crops worldwide. After her PhD, the focus of her research shifted more towards Asia. In recent years, she has already been a visiting researcher in the Earth Systems and Global Change chair group.

Interaction of water and food

As a professor, Biemans continues to focus on the complex water-food connection. She investigates how factors such as climate change and socio-economic changes affect water demand and water availability. Biemans: ‘I’m interested how this water shortage affects food production and, more importantly, what solutions are possible.’ To map these interactions, she makes use of models. 'You can combine all kinds of information in such a model: changing precipitation patterns, the amount of water in rivers and reservoirs, data on irrigation and other water use, growing seasons, population trends. This creates an integrated picture that allows us to better understand where and when water supplies for agriculture are at risk, what the impact is, and where intervention is possible.'

3POLE2SEA

A major part of Biemans' research focuses on the Himalayas and surrounding mountain ranges, also known as the third pole. The relationship between meltwater and food security. It is also one of the largest food-producing regions in the world, home to millions of people. In 2017, she became a visiting researcher at ICIMOD in Nepal and last year Biemans received an ERC grant for her research on food security in the area.Hester Biemans receives ERC Grant for research on food security around the Third Pole She hopes to apply this knowledge to other parts of the world.