Professor Geert de Snoo new Dean of Faculty of Science
Professor Geert de Snoo will become Dean of the Faculty of Science at Leiden University with effect from 1 September 2012. De Snoo succeeds Professor Sjoerd Verduyn Lunel. He is currently endowed professor at Wageningen University in the field of Nature Conservation on Farmland.
Biodiversity, environment and sustainability
De Snoo (1961) studied biology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and started his career in Leiden as a researcher at the Leiden Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML). He then began work at NWO as a researcher, and received his PhD in 1995 on the subject of ‘Unsprayed field margins: implications for environment, biodiversity and agricultural practice’. After obtaining his PhD he was awarded an NWO Incentive subsidy comparable to the present VENI subsidy and also became head of the Ecosystems and Environmental Quality department at CML. In 2003 he was appointed endowed professor at Wageningen University in the field of Nature Conservation on Farmland. He was appointed professor at Leiden University in 2009.
Teaching and research
De Snoo's research focuses on the influence of chemical substances such as pesticides on biodiversity and environmental quality and on the relation between land use and biodiversity. De Snoo has always combined his research with teaching. He is, for instance, responsible for much of the teaching at the CML and is currently supervising 25 PhD candidates. He is a sought-after member of PhD committees both in the Netherlands and abroad.
Expert
De Snoo is regarded as a national and international expert in the area of biodiversity, the environment and nature management, and has an impressive list of more than 200 publications to this name. He writes in a way that makes his subject accessible for a broad public audience, an example being his recently published book entitled ‘Bestrijdingsmiddelen en waterkwaliteit’ (Pesticides and water quality). De Snoo is adept at translating scientific research for a broad audience, and his research contributes to the public debate. His publications can frequently be found in national newspapers and popular scientific journals. He is also regularly invited to take part in radio and TV programmes.
Diverse management and ancillary activities
De Snoo holds a number of management positions and is active in a range of national advisory bodies; he has, for example, acted as adviser to the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (currently the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation) and as chairman and member of diverse NWO-ALW Open programmes. His current activities include membership of the Board of the Socio-Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment (SENSE) research school and chairmanship of the Board of the European Invertebrate Survey Foundation (EIS-NL), that actively promotes increasing knowledge about and better protection of insects and other invertebrates. He is also a member of the Board of a non-departmental public body (Zelfstandig Bestuursorgaan - ZBO), and of the Board for the Authorisation of Plant Protection Products and Biocides (Ctgb).