dr. S (Silke) Hemming

Dr. Silke Hemming studied Horticultural Sciences at the University of Hanover, Germany. She got her phD at the University of Hanover in 1998, completing a thesis with the title ”The effect of photoselective greenhouse covering materials on ornamental plants”. Since 1999 she works at Wageningen University and Research Centre at different institutes in different positions. First as junior researcher at IMAG (1999-2003), as researcher at Agrotechnology and Food Sciences Group (2003-2005) and since 2005 at Plant Sciences Group (2005-2011). Since 2007 she is head of the scientific research team Greenhouse Technology within WUR.

Silke Hemming is an expert on the field of novel greenhouse design concepts and modern greenhouse coverings, worked on several projects related to increasing light transmission, changing light spectrum, the effect of diffuse light, the possibilities of NIR-reflecting coverings and the development of modern coatings for glass coverings. The WUR LightLab is a unique facility with the most modern measurement equipment for optical properties of greenhouse materials. Silke Hemming was project leader several international research projects on greenhouse systems in different climate zones world-wide, designed greenhouse concepts for tropical lowland areas in Indonesia, sub-tropical climate of Taiwan and Japan, sustainable greenhouses for semi-arid climates in Australia, net covered structures for Mediterranean Areas and several energy saving greenhouse concepts in The Netherlands. She recently initiated research on the field of artificial intelligence and greenhouses control and lead the first international challenge on Autonomous greenhouses.

Her research group has expertise on the field of energy saving, greenhouse climate, water saving, modelling, data science, computer vision, sensors and robotics for greenhouse and indoor farming applications. Questions on these topics can be adressed to Silke. 

For general questions on greenhouse horticulture please refer to: https://www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Research-Institutes/plant-research/greenhouse-horticulture/contact.htm