Story

When I was a little kid, I used to collect spiders, isopods, insects and snails. In a way, my career as a biologist had already started back then. I studied biology at Leiden University, where I became fascinated by aquatic ecology and environmental biology. During my BSc., I worked on optimisation of environmental DNA (eDNA) collection techniques. Later on, during- and after my MSc., my focus shifted towards studying human impacts on aquatic environments, either in the lab, in mesocosms or in the field.

Currently, I’m working on my PhD project titled ‘Citizen Science for Mosquito Surveillance’. I combine novel approaches for mosquito monitoring, such as citizen science, with conventional methods for mosquito trapping in order to acquire insights in mosquito- and mosquito-borne virus distributions. Furthermore, I am particularly interested in the overwintering strategies of Dutch mosquito species. By involving the general public in my research, I aim to raise public scientific understanding and awareness on mosquito-borne diseases.

In my free time I like to hang out with friends, play video games, watch movies, and go to matches of my favourite football club (when there’s no pandemic). Also, I’m a big fan of hip-hop music, so you can find me at concerts quite often.

Collaborators

My PhD-project is embedded within the OHPACT-Consortium, so I collaborate closely with other members of the consortium, in particular fellow OHPACT PhD-candidates Charlotte Linthout (Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University and Research), Louie Krol (CML – Leiden University) and Emmanuelle Münger (Viroscience – Erasmus MC). Additionally, I work with Maarten Schrama (CML – Leiden University), Arnold van Vliet from the department of Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and Frederic Bartumeus from the Centre of Advanced Studies in Blanes (CEAB-CSIS) in Spain.