Dedmer Van de Waal wins 2020 Yentsch-Schindler Early Career Award

NIOO-researcher Dedmer van de Waal is the winner of the 2020 Yentsch-Schindler Early Career Award, for his fundamental research on the impacts of global change on harmful algal bloom dynamics and toxicity in freshwater and marine systems, and for translating these complex scientific results into language understandable by the public.

With the annual Yentsch-Schindler Early Career Award, the US-based Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) recognizes an early-career scientist for significant and balanced contributions to research, education and society.

Understanding harmful algal blooms

According to ASLO, Dedmer van de Waal's research "has been instrumental to understanding environmental controls on harmful algal bloom (HAB) dynamics and toxin synthesis in aquatic ecosystems."

The association praises the senior scientist and current acting head of NIOO's department of Aquatic Ecology for his work on ecological stoichiometry: the science of ratios in ecosystems. "By combining field observations and laboratory studies, Van de Waal has demonstrated how environmental stoichiometry, specifically with respect to nitrogen, affects bloom formation and toxin production for various HAB species."

His work also "addresses the impacts of global change and rising carbon dioxide levels, and how interactions of HAB species with pathogens such as fungal parasites and viruses manifest on the community level."

Outreach to the broader community

Van de Waal (37) has published more than fifty articles in peer-reviewed journals which have over 1,000 citations. But while these achievements alone would be "outstanding", ASLO also emphasises the importance of his outreach work.

"Van de Waal is actively engaged in outreach to the broader community, from children to policy makers. He also has an impressive record mentoring graduate students and post-doctoral researchers. As the chair of the Dutch national platform on harmful cyanobacteria, Van de Waal brings together scientists and water managers to better predict, monitor, and address the issue of HABs in the Netherlands."

If you take these things together, says ASLO's president Mike Pace, "Van de Waal embodies the spirit of the Yentsch-Schindler award: a robust research programme, a commitment to science communication, and service to the scientific community. We are excited to present Dedmer with the award this year."

Dedmer van de Waal will be presented with the award at the ASLO-SFS Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin in June 2020.

• Dedmer van de Waal's Personal Page

• For more information about ASLO and the history of the Yentsch-Schindler award, please go to www.ASLO.org.