CV

Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

2012 - 2016: PhD, Marine Biogeochemistry, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
2009 - 2011: MSc, Environmental Sciences, Major in Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland
2006 - 2009: BSc, Environmental Sciences, Major in System-oriented Studies in Aquatic Systems, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland

RESEARCH POSITIONS

since 2022: Founder, CEO and Environmental Consultant at Egger Research and Consulting GmbH, St. Gallen, Switzerland
since 2018: Lead Ocean Field Scientist at The Ocean Cleanup, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2016 - 2017: Postdoctoral Researcher at Center for Geomicrobiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Denmark
2016: Postdoctoral Researcher at Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
2012 - 2016: PhD candidate at Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

EXPERTISE

Aquatic biogeochemistry (carbon and nutrients) and pollutant dynamics (plastics)
Field and laboratory research: Sediment coring; anoxic and oxic core slicing; porewater extraction; methane sampling; (anoxic) epoxy embedding of sediment sub-cores; neuston trawl; MOCNESS; in-situ pumps; sediment traps; CTD; isotope geochemistry; stable isotope incubations; gas chromatography; sequential chemical extractions; HF digestions; alkalinity and iodometric titrations; photo spectroscopy; micro XRF mapping; SEM-EDS; XRD; synchrotron-based X-ray adsorption spectroscopy (XAS); Raman spectroscopy; FTIR
Numerical modeling: Reactive transport models (RTM); Box models
Academic writing and science communication

RESEARCH EXPEDITIONS

North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, 20.11.-11.12.2019. Maersk Transporter (DK), as chief scientist
North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, 27.10.-9.12.2018. Maersk Transporter (DK), as chief scientist
North Atlantic, 16.6-22.6.2018. R/V Pelagia (NL)
Baltic Sea, 28.5-14.6.2016. R/V Pelagia (NL)
Bothnian Sea, 3.8.-7.8.2015, R/V Lotty (SWE)
Bothnian Sea, 20.4.-24.4.2015, R/V Lotty (SWE)
Bothnian Sea, 18.8.-24.8.2013, R/V Aranda (FIN)
Black Sea, 7.6.-23.6.2013, R/V Pelagia (NL)
Bothnian Sea, 20.8.-26.8.2012, R/V Aranda (FIN)
North Sea (Lake Grevelingen), multiple (>10) expeditions between 2012 and 2015, R/V Luctor (NL) and R/V Navicula (NL)

SUPERVISION & MENTORING EXPERIENCE
MSc students:

Marjolein van Vulpen (2022 - present), "Hotspots of plastic and neuston in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch"
Kiri Spanowicz (2022), "The abundance and diversity of floating plastic debris and neuston in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch"
Britte Schilt (2021), "Diversity and abundance of plastics and neuston in the North Atlantic Ocean"
Hannah Kortman (2020/2021), "Using Raman spectroscopy to determine the degree of degradation (i.e. aging) of plastic debris afloat on the ocean surface"
Lauren Quiros (2019/2020), "Investigating the role of submesoscale eddies for the accumulation of floating plastic debris in the eastern North Pacific Ocean"
Marloes Schravensande (2019), "Characterizing floating marine plastic debris in the Atlantic Ocean"
Rein Nijhof (2019), "Buoyant plastic debris in the Gulf of Alaska"
Roosmarijn van Zummeren (2019), "Beaching of marine debris on a remote Pacific Island (Guam, Micronesia)"
Annerieke Bouwman (2018/2019), "Microplastics in marine sediments of the Mississippi River Delta (Gulf of Mexico)"
Dirk Jong (2015/2016), "Early diagenesis in sediments of a seasonally hypoxic coastal basin (Lake Grevelingen, the Netherlands)"

BSc students:

Annika Vollebregt (2015), "Anaerobic oxidation of methane and its effect on the dynamics of sulfur and iron in the sediments of Lake Grevelingen, the Netherlands"
Marit van Erk (2014), "Diagenetic signals of the Holocene lake-marine transition in a sediment core from the Bornholm Basin, Baltic Sea"
Evelien Dekker (2013-2014), "Influence of the lake/marine transition on phosphorus dynamics in Black Sea sediments below the redoxcline"

JOURNAL REFEREE

MEMBERSHIPS

Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Working Group 153: Floating Litter and its Oceanic TranSport Analysis and Modelling (FLOTSAM)
European Geosciences Union

LANGUAGES