Thijs Bosker is an Associate Professor in Environmental Sciences. In his research he uses laboratory and field techniques to study the impact of contaminants on the health of ecosystems, with a focus on stress-on-stress scenarios under estuarine conditions. He conducts his research in Canada, the US, the Caribbean and the Netherlands. Extension number: 8375

More information about Thijs Bosker

Biography

Thijs Bosker is an Associate Professor in Environmental Science. In his research, he uses laboratory and field techniques to study the impacts of contaminants on ecosystem health, with a focus on stress-on-stress scenarios. His research has taken him to Canada, the US, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. He quantifies the combined impacts of contaminants (e.g. microplastics, pharmaceuticals in wastewater, or oil residues) and environmental stressors (e.g. low oxygen or high temperature) on a range of organisms (including plants, invertebrates, and fish). He assesses impacts at different levels of biological organization, ranging from physiological changes to population and community-level impacts, and he uses this data to predict the risk of contaminants on the environment.

In addition, Thijs is passionate about teaching and outreach. He has developed 15 courses, from field schools in Africa and the Netherlands to marine biology and environmental science courses. He also regularly gives lectures to the general public, gives workshops to children, and appears in the media (newspapers, television, and radio). He has developed a website with teaching materials for university lecturers from different fields (e.g., communication studies, psychology, and international law) on sustainability challenges (www.local-actions.com).

Currently, he is the program director of the interdisciplinary bachelor Science for Sustainable Societies. This interdisciplinary BSc program combines knowledge from both the natural (e.g., ecology and earth system sciences) and social sciences (e.g., anthropology, public administration, and psychology) to better understand complex environmental issues and identify pathways forward.

Thijs received his MSc from Wageningen University (the Netherlands), and his PhD from the University of New Brunswick (Canada). Before joining the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Leiden University he worked as an Associate Professor at Leiden University College, as an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut (USA), and as a postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Rivers Institute.

Academic Expertise

• Microplastic distribution in the environment;
• Development of standardized procedures to assess environmental impacts of contaminants;
• Working with citizen scientists to quantify levels of microplatics;
• Stress-on-stress assessment of contaminants (pharmaceuticals in wastewater, microplastics or oil residues);
• Chronic toxicity of contaminants on reproduction and development of organisms;

Courses​

• Research Design
• Environmental Science: Ecosystems and Biodiversity
• Ecotoxicology
• Global Challenges: Sustainability
• Biology

Activities