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NCR May Lecture

26 May 2021 - 13:00

26 May 2021 | 13:00 – 14:00 | Microsoft Teams

NCR provides a montly podium for a special story. In this lecture dr. Menno Straatsma hosts dr. Frans Buschman, who will talk about plastics in rivers: monitoring, modelling and the European research project MAELSTROM.

About the speaker

Frans Buschman is advisor environmental hydrodynamics at Deltares. He combines monitoring and modelling techniques to solve problems in rivers and estuaries. While he has a background in hydrodynamics and sediment transport, over the past years his interests have drifted to transport and fate of plastic litter in rivers and estuaries. He strongly believes that – if leakage to the river cannot be prevented, it is best remove litter from the river before it enters the ocean. He leads the Deltares contribution to the Horizon 2020 MAELSTROM project, focussing on litter removal and recycling in a Portuguese river.

About the lecture

When a plastic item ends up in the river, it is likely to be transported with the flow to the sea. During its journey the item can have negative effects on riverine and marine ecosystems, and small fragments may have an impact on human health.

Although the problem of plastic pollution is getting more attention, monitoring of plastic litter transport – which is key in understanding the problem – is still at an early stage. Frans presents some promising monitoring techniques that may help to get longer time series of macroplastic concentration. Using case studies, the lecture also addresses three numerical modelling approaches that help to improve our understanding of the transport and fate of plastic litter in the river. Together, these techniques may form important pieces in the puzzle to understand, and ultimately solve, the problems related to plastic pollution.

How to participate

The lecture takes place online through Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Teams is available as an app on all major platforms, including as a web application. The lecture will start at 13:00. To join, use the following link on the day and time of the lecture: Join Microsoft Teams Meeting

Add the event to your calendar

To add the event to your calendar, click here to download the calendar invitation file (*.ics). This calendar item has the join link as well, so you won’t have to save this email.

 

Contact

If you have questions about this or previous lectures, contact us at secretary@ncr-web.org