Ralph Temmink wins Agnites Vrolik Prize for pioneering work on ecosystem restoration

Ralph Temmink is the proud winner of the Agnites Vrolik Prize. On Friday 9 June, he was awarded the fourth edition of the prize worth €25,000 by Prof José van Dijck for his pioneering research on ecosystem restoration. Restoring ecosystems. Temmink, nominated by the Faculty of Geosciences and based at the Department of Sustainable Development (Copernicus Institute), is researching how to design and produce 3D-printed biodegradable structures mimicking nature which can be used in large-scale nature restoration. This approach has already been used to develop artificial reefs for the recovery of musseland oysterbeds in the Wadden Sea. "My fascination comes from the fact that we have already lost many ecosystems. I want to use my work to build knowledge about how specific ecosystems work and then look at how we can actually apply that knowledge to help ecosystem restoration.