Curriculum vitae Prof. Dr. Martin J. Kropff Rector Magnificus and ...

2009
Curriculum vitae
Prof. Dr. Martin J. Kropff
Rector Magnificus and Vice chairman of the Executive Board
Wageningen University and Research Center.
P.O. Box 9101, 6700 HB Wageningen,
The Netherlands
visiting address:
Costerweg 50, 6701 BH, Wageningen
tel. +31 317 84001(office)
tel. +31 317 413385(home)
Born: 57.04.04, Asperen, the Netherlands
Nationality: Dutch
Married to: Nynke Nammensma in 1984
Children: Wietske (1986)
Femke (1988)
Scientific training
1989 PhD (cum laude) in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Wageningen
Agricultural University.
Supervision: Prof. C.T. de Wit, Prof. E.H. Adema, Dr. J. Goudriaan
Quantification of SO 2 effects on physiological processes, plant growth and crop
production.
1984 MSc in Biology (cum laude), State University Utrecht, The Netherlands
Languages
Dutch, English, German, French (reading)
Professional positions
1984-1985 Scientist, IPO-DLO and Wageningen Agricultural University, Department of
Air Pollution
1985-1990 Agroecologist, Wageningen Agricultural University, Department of Theoretical
Production Ecology
1990-1995 Systems agronomist, Deputy Program Leader Cross Ecosystem Program, SARP
project leader and Head of the Climate Unit at the International Rice Research
Institute, Los Baños, Philippines
1993-1995 Visiting assistant professor at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños,
Philippines, Dept. of Agronomy
1995-1998 Professor of Applied Plant Ecology and Weed Science, Wageningen
Agricultural University combined with:
Head Department of Crop and Weed Science. Institute for Agrobiology and
Soil Fertility Research (AB-DLO) Wageningen, The Netherlands till 1997 and
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Program leader Plant Production and Product Quality. Institute for Agrobiology
and Soil fertility Research (AB-DLO) Wageningen, The Netherlands from
1997-1998
1998-2005 a. Professor of Crop and Weed Ecology, Head of the Chairgroup,
Wageningen Agricultural University
1998-2002 b. Scientific director of the C.T. de Wit Graduate School for Production
Ecology and Resource conservation of the Wageningen Agricultural
University.
2001-2005 Director General of Plant Sciences Group of Wageningen UR. This includes
three organisations: Plant Research International, Applied Plant Research and
the Department of Plant Sciences of the Wageningen University. (Total annual
budget 125 million Euro)
2005- Chairman of the board of WOTRO-NOW
2005- Rector Magnificus and Vice chairman of the Executive Board of Wageningen
University and Research Center.
Professional activities
1987-1990 Leader of Research Group on Air Pollution Effects on Plants. Co-operative
project of Departments of Air Pollution and Theoretical Production Ecology of
the Agric. Univ. and the Research Institute for Plant Protection (Wageningen)
1988-1990 Chairman of Main Subject Area ‘Crop Weed Interactions’ of the European
Weed Research Society (EWRS)
1988-1990 Member of the scientific committee of the European Weed Research Society
1988/1989 Organization EWRS symposium ‘Integrated weed management in cereals’ June
1989, Helsinki, Finland
1989-1993 Chairman of programme committee for EWRS symposium on ‘Quantitative
aspects of weed control and herbicide performance’, 1993, Germany
1999-2002 Chairman of the organising committee of the 13 th EWRS symposium in
Wageningen.
1990- Session organiser and member of programme committee of several
international symposia (IWSS Brazil, SAAD3 in Peru,…)
1988-1990 Member of the Board of the Department of Theoretical Production Ecology
1990-1995 - Project leader ‘Simulation and Systems Analysis for Rice Production’
(SARP project), an international project for collaborative research and
technology transfer in rice production systems. A project of the International
Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the Centre for Agrobiological Research (AB-
DLO) and the Wageningen Agricultural University (WAU)
- Project coordinator of the systems research core project at IRRI
- Chairperson of several research committees, a committee to reorganize the
Research Programs, the IRRI Database committee, the IRRI Rice Statistics
committee and the IRRI Computer Services committee
1991-1994 Project leader of the Asian Research Network on Modeling Climate Change
Effects on Rice (EPA-USA funded)
1992-1995 Task leader for tropical crops in IGBP core project Global Change and
Terrestrial Ecosystems and member of the GCTE crops committee
1994-1998 Task leader for weeds in IGBP core project Global Change and Terrestrial
Ecosystems across GCTE activities
1995-1999 External Assessor for Chairs of Botany departments, Univ. of Malaysia
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1995-1998 Subprogram leader (Synthesis of Ecologically Balanced Systems) in the C.T. de
Wit Graduate School for Production Ecology (WAU)
1996-2002 Chairman of the Royal Society for Agricultural Scientists in the Netherlands
(KLV) and from 1996-1998 vice-chairman. This organisation has 8000
members and includes the Loopbaancentrum for employability development.
Several committees within the organisation such as science and research and
education.
1997-2001 Member of the board of ISRIC (International Soil Reference and Information
Center)
2000-2002 Member of the board of the Wageningen Innovation Fund Foundation
1997-2002 Vice president and since 1999 President of the European Weed Research
Society and chairman of the scientific committee of the EWRS
1996-2004 Chairman of the working group ‘Weed Science’ of the Royal Netherlands Crop
Protection Society
1999-2002 Chairman of the selection committee for WOTRO-NWO proposals for
beta/medical sciences
2002- Chairman of the WOTRO-NWO policy advisory board
1999-2000 Member of the board of the climate change and biosphere programme of
Wageningen UR
2001-2005 Member of the board of the graduate school for Production Ecology and
resource conservation.
2004-2006 Chairman of the WOTRO-NWO board
Editorial boards/reviews
1995-2002 Member editorial board of the Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Sciences
1996-2002 Member editorial board of Weed Research
1998- Member editorial board Agricultural Systems
2001- Member editorial board Journal of agronomy and crop science
General Referee of a wide range of international journals such as: Plant Cell and
Environment, Neth. J. of Plant Pathology, New Phytologist, Weed Research,
Agric. Ecosyst. and Environment, Austr. J. of Exp. Agric., Agric. Systems,
Ann. of Applied Biology, Physiologia Plantarum, Plant and Soil, Field Crops
Research, referee of project proposals for USDA etc.
Supervisory boards
1997- Member of the board of Landgoed Scholtenzathe b.v.
2003- Member supervisory board of PTC+
2002- Member supervisory board Topinstitute Watertechnology
2007- Member supervisory board BLGG
2008- Member supervisory board ITC
Commercial activities/practical experience
1980-1984 Supervisor of AJK Kromme Rijn, an organisation for young farmers
Since 1980 Experience with farming practice on arable farm family in Flevoland
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1998- Co-responsible for employability organisation as chairman of the board of KLV
1999-2005 Advisor of the retail organisation AH on implementation EUREP-GAP and on
development and implementation strategy for pesticide free products
2000-2005 Managing Director of Plant Research International (PRI) and Applied Plant
Research (PPO)
2001-2005 Business development in PRI and PPO.
Teaching experience
1979-1982 State University Utrecht. Student assistantships (5 periods of 2 months in the
field of ecology)
1984-1990 Supervision of ca 30 MSc students during their 6-months research periods
1985-1990 Courses in Systems Analysis and Systems Ecology (WAU)
Courses in Crop Ecology (English and Dutch), Basics of Primary Production,
ca. 300 students a year (WAU).
Courses in Systems Analysis and Systems Management in Crop Protection
(WAU)
1993- 1995 Courses in Systems Analysis and Systems Ecology (UPLB, Philippines)
(1 semester a year; 4 h a week)
1995- Courses in Agro-ecology (WAU)
Courses in Weed Science (WAU)
(post-graduate courses)
1987/1988 Lecturer in courses on ‘Simulation of Crop Growth and Weed Interactions’ and
‘Simulation of Forest Growth’ in Finland and Wageningen
1988 Lecturer in course on ‘Simulation of Rice Production’ (SARP course in cooperation
with IRRI)
1988-1990 Lecturer in courses on Weed Science (Wageningen, Gent (Belgium))
1990 Lecturer on Crop Weed Interactions in International CIHEAM course ‘Weed
biology and control for Mediterranean conditions’ , Zaragoza, Spain
1989/1990 Lecturer in 19th and 20th International Course on Vegetable Production, IAC,
Wageningen. (4 days lecturing and practicals for 30 students from developing
countries).
1988-1990 Development of Computer Aided Instruction Programs for practicals on
Quantitative Crop Ecology, based upon dynamic simulation models for crop
growth in co-operation with the Dutch company Courseware Midden
Nederland.
1990-1996 Courses in Systems Analysis and Systems Ecology at the International Rice
Research Institute for International staff (2 days) and National staff (5 weeks).
1995 Course on using models in Weed Science. Italy, Viareggio
1996-2002 Courses in Agro-ecology, Weed Science and Plant Ecology, Crop Ecology
Publications and presentations
- > 110 papers in refereed journals, 12 books, 60 refereed book chapters, 30
publications in proceedings and course texts and about 40 other publications
and reports. Several papers in high impact journals such as Plant Cell and
Environment, New Phytologist, PNAS and Trends in Plant Sciences.
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- more than 40 keynote addresses and invited presentations and more than 100
other presentations to conferences and symposia
- Citations since 1995 in Int. Journals: over 1560
- Chairman of a wide range of (inter)national workshops and symposia
PhD students
1990- Completed supervised PhD theses: 24
Currently (Co-)Supervision 10 PhD students in the field of Crop Ecology and
Weed Science, Environmental Characterization and Soil Science.
Experience related to developing countries
- Lecturer in training course ‘Implementation of simulation and systems analysis for rice
production’, 1988, Wageningen
- Lecturer in 19th and 20th international course on Vegetable Production, IAC, Wageningen.
(30 students from developing countries).
- Visit as a consultant to IITA, Nigeria to give a paper on workshop on intercropping ‘Modeling
of intercropping systems’ and contribute to working plan of IITA research on intercropping,
June 1989
- Research and training projects at the International Rice Research Institute for 15
interdisciplinary teams of scientists in 9 Asian countries from 1990-1995. Many projects on
agroecological issues and applications of systems analysis and simulation. With a team of 8
international co-ordinators and a staff at IRRI about 5 workshops and training courses were
organized per year.
- Since 1995 supervision of PhD projects in Africa (Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Zimbabwe, Tanzania), Asia (India, China, Philippines), S America (Uruguay).
Participation in review teams
1996 Chair of the internally managed external review of crop management research
in WARDA (West Africa Rice Development Association, Ivory Coast)
1998 Member external review panel of the Crop Protection Division of the Danish
Agricultural research Organisation.
1999 Member external review panel APSRU Australia.
2004 External Program and Management review IRRI, Philippines 2004
2005 External review Rothamsted
Externally funded projects
until 1995:
- Quantification of effects air pollution on crops. Dutch Priority Programme on Acidification
(1985-1988) (1 Mfl)
- Quantification of effects air pollution on Douglas fir. Dutch Priority Programme on
Acidification (1988-1990) (0.5 Mfl)
- Modeling weed morphology and crop weed interactions. Funded by EC programme EPOCH
(1988-1991) (200kfl)
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- Model development for integrated weed management systems. Funded by Dutch Ministry of
Agriculture (1990-1994) (100kfl)
- SARP II and III (Simulation and Systems Analysis for Rice Production. Funded by the Dutch
Ministry for Development Co-operation (1990-1996) (10Mfl)
- Project on simulation of the effects of global climate change on rice production Funded by the
Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, USA (1991-1993) (300 K$)
- Project on database development, Asian Development Bank project for international cooperation
between IRRI and National Centers through consortia (1992-1993) (100k$)
Since 1995:
A wide range of projects in Crop Ecology and Weed Science in the Department of TPE-WAU
and theme at AB-DLO with different project leaders and later in the group Crop and Weed
Ecology. A wide range of postdoc and PhD projects funded by the Dutch ministry for
Agriculture, EU, NWO-STW, NWO-WOTRO, NWO-ALW (Dutch Science Foundation),
University and externally funded projects by companies. From 1995 till 1998 as department
head and theme leader of AB-DLO acquisition of large programs funded by the ministry of
Agriculture (LNV).
NWO 2nd stream: 8 projects funded by STW, WOTRO and ALW
EU projects 2
External projects (co-)funded by private companies
Current situation Plant Sciences Group of Wageningen UR: 125 m euro of which more than 50%
external funding.
research activities
Fields of interest: integration levels: from process to farming systems
- sustainable plant production systems
- crop ecology,
- crop physiology
- crop modeling
- mixed cropping systems
- functional biodiversity
- weed ecology: crop-weed interactions
- weed ecology: population dynamics
- weed management
- ecological agriculture and soil fertility management
Management experience
From 1985-1990 responsible for projects with approximately 4 staff members.
From 1991-1995 management of international research group at the International Rice Research
Institute at the Philippines with approximately 30 members (including 8 international postdocs),
deputy program leader in a matrix management system and project leader (with the help 4 coordinators
in my staff) of an international research program of 100 scientists in 9 Asian countries.
From 1995 till 1998 management of the Department of TPE and the department of crop ecology
at AB-DLO.
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Since 1998 management of the chairgroup crop and weed ecology (35 people) and director of the
graduate school for production ecology and resource conservation (22 chairgroups with 100 staff
members and 250 PhD students). This last function is part of the matrix structure where graduate
schools co-ordinate research. Besides this as chair of the board of the Dutch Royal Society
involved in the reorganisation of the Loopbaancentrum KLV (with originally 28 staff members)
to develop it to a market oriented organisation that makes profit.
Since 2001 as managing director/director general of the Plant Sciences Group of Wageningen
UR. An organisation of about 2000 staff members.
Since 2005 member of the executive board of Wageningen UR
Awards/honorary memberships
Gelders Utrechtse Spaarbankprijs 1991. for PhD thesis (competition period: 1988-1989 at the
Agricultural University Wageningen).
Best paper award WOTRO-NWO 2004
Sinds 2000
Sinds 2001
Sinds 2005
Member of the Academia dei Georgofili, Florence, Italy
Member of the Hollandsche Maatschappij voor Wetenschappen
Member Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation
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