dr.ir. W (Wopke) van der Werf

I am an associate professor in the crop and weed ecology group. Mijn main areas of research are: (1) ecology, productivity and resource use efficiency in mixed cropping systems, (2) ecology of pests, natural enemies, pathogens and pollinators in agricultural landscapes, (3) invasion ecology of plant pests and diseases. I obtained my engineer (ir.) degree in Crop Protection in 1983 with a focus on entomology, epidemiology of plant pathogens, ecological modelling and statistics, and use these methods in my current research. I obtained my PhD degree on the basis of field research on the spread and impact of yellowing viruses in sugarbeet. I supervise 12 PhD students, several of them in collaboration with partners in China. I am involved in three EU projects, IntercropVALUES, Adopt-IPM and PHENET, and in an ERC-funded project, FRESHH.