PhD thesis defence Lilith Kramer: Connecting with lakes

On 27 March 2025 Lilith Kramer will defend her PhD thesis, titled "Connecting with lakes: A social-ecological perspective on nutrient management in surface water networks".

The aim of the thesis is to safeguard and improve the water quality of lake networks through exploring the impacts of different lake management strategies with models. Designing effective management strategies for lake networks is challenging due to possible nonlinear nutrient dynamics driven by ecological feedbacks, as well as the complexity of the networks themselves.

Models are useful tools for exploring the mechanics of complex systems. Therefore, Lilith started by modelling the impact of a management strategy in combination with climate change on the ecosystem state of a single lake, after which she developed with  her colleagues a lake network model (PCLakeS+) to simulate the ecosystem state of multiple connected lakes. Subsequently, they applied PCLakeS+ to a Dutch lake network. Furthermore, they explored how the current aquatic ecosystem model landscape suits different perspectives of nature and how you can teach the complexities of lake network management to different audiences through a serious game (Flipping Lakes).

Her promotor is NIOO-researcher Wolf Mooij, and her co-promotors are NIOO-researcher Sven Teurlincx and Tineke Troost (Deltares).

The ceremony will take place at Wageningen University & Research, and will start at 10:30 h.

More information and a link to the livestream can be found on the university's website.