Summary
All information regarding the Environmental Impact of Fire course and how to register
Article body
| Organised by | WIMEK |
| Date | 1st to 5th February 2027 |
| Duration | 5 full days (Monday to Friday) |
| Location | Wageningen Campus, in-person |
| Registration deadline | Deadline 15 December 2026 (instructions and link below) |
Table of Contents
Scope
Fires differ in when, where, and how they burn. Consequently, their environmental impacts vary across geographical regions, fire types, and ecosystems. This course explores fire impacts on vegetation, soil and water, and the atmosphere, focusing on how these impacts change across space and time.
Through discussions and group work, participants will explore how fire characteristics, geographical context, and post-fire recovery influence environmental impacts, and how these insights relate to the own PhD research.
Learning goals
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
1. Understand how fire processes shape environmental impacts, using vegetation, soil and water, and atmospheric impacts as examples
2. Explain how the environmental impacts of fire change across time, geographical regions, and ecosystems
3. Analyze how fire processes, spatial differences, and post-fire recovery are addressed in studies of fire impacts
4. Reflect on the key processes and challenges relevant to their own research
Assumed knowledge
The course is open to PhD candidates working on any aspect of the environmental impacts of fire. Although the lectures focus on vegetation, soil and water, and atmospheric impacts, the interactive group work provides opportunities to integrate impact into discussions and reflections.
Outline of the course
The five-day course begins with an introduction to fire and its environmental impacts, followed by in-depth sessions on vegetation, atmospheric and climate impacts, and soil and water. Throughout the course, participants will explore how fire impacts vary across ecosystems, geographical regions, and time.
Day 1: Introduction to Fire - Explore fire characteristics, geographical differences in fire impacts, and post-fire recovery
Day 2: Fire Impacts on Vegetation and Ecosystems - Examine plant adaptations and responses to fire, ecosystem resilience, and the influence of vegetation on fire behavior
Day 3: Atmospheric and Climate Impacts - Explore fire emissions, smoke, air quality, carbon budgets, and the overall climate impacts of fires
Day 4: Impacts on Soil and Water - Examine hydrological processes, soil erosion, contamination risks, and post-fire recovery and mitigation
Day 5: Group Work and Presentations - Develop and present group work connecting course themes to participants’ own research, followed by discussions
Lecturers
Main lecturers and content coordinators
Joao Carvalho Nuno is an Associate Professor of Soil Physics and Land Management (SLM) at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands. His research focuses on socio-hydrological systems, the links between hydrological processes, soil erosion, water contamination, and land/water management. He specializes in how extreme disturbances—such as wildfires, severe droughts, and climate change—impact water resources at the catchment scale.
Masha van der Sande is an Assistant Professor in the Forest Ecology and Management Group (FEM) at Wageningen University & Research. Her research includes the past, present, and future fire resilience of Amazonian forests.
Cathelijne Stoof is a Pyrogeographer and associate professor in the SLM group at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), with a focus on Integrated Fire Management: emphasizing prevention, landscape adaptation, and cross-risk management, and linking fire science with practice. For her work, she has won the Dutch Science Foundation's 2025 Impact award.
Roland Vernooij (MAQ) is a Researcher at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), specializing in atmospheric physics, climate science, satellite image analysis, and land-use management. His research primarily targets the global environmental impacts of open vegetation fires, with a focus on Global Fire emissions, and emissions of greenhouse gases by shifting fire regimes in Savannas.
Guest lecturers
Judi Pausas (Confirmed) is a Research ecologist at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIRO-CIDE) who specializes in fire ecology and evolution. His work heavily covers how fire shapes species, communities, and global ecosystems, particularly in Mediterranean environments.
Hans Cornelissen (to be confirmed) is a Professor of Systems Ecology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research focuses on plant functional traits and their role in ecosystem functioning, carbon and nutrient cycling, and processes such as fire and decomposition.
More to be announced soon!
General information
The course will take place in the Wageningen Campus over five days from 9:00 to 17:00. Coffee, tea, and lunch will be provided on all teaching days.
Credit points: 1,5 ECTs
Group size: 10-20 people
Fees
| WIMEK and all other WUR PhD candidates with an approved TSP | €260 (early bird) / €300 (regular) |
| SENSE PhDs with TSP | €520 (early bird) / €540 (regular) |
| All other PhD candidates | €560 (early bird) / €580 (regular) |
| Postdocs and staff of WUR Graduate Schools/graduate schools mentioned above | €560 (early bird) / €580 (regular) |
| All others | €1120 (early bird) / €1160 (regular) |
The course fee includes coffee, tea, lunch on all 5 days and dinner on the first day. The fee does not include accommodation, breakfast and dinner on the other 4 days. Accommodation is not included in the fee of the course, but there are several possibilities in Wageningen. For information on B&B’s and hotels in Wageningen please visit proefwageningen.nl/overnachten . Another option is Short Stay Wageningen. Furthermore, Airbnb offers several rooms in the area. Note that besides the restaurants in Wageningen, there are also options to have dinner at Wageningen Campus.
Registration
Early bird registration deadline: 01 December 2026
Regular registration deadline: 15 December 2026
Instructions to register and pay
(please read before clicking the link below)
The link will open a registration form where you will fill out your information and where you will also be expected to pay. Please note: your registration is only complete when the payment has been received. You will fill out your information and decide on your payment method.
WUR PhD candidate
As a WUR PhD candidate you can pay via the project number. When clicking the project number option, you will be required to enter your Project Number and Cost Center Code (Kostenplaats in Dutch). If you have questions about these numbers, please reach out to the MOA of your chair group.
Affiliated to another university/institute
Is another institute/university paying for you? Please choose the invoice option. If you choose the invoice option so that another university/institute pays your registration fee, you will input the information from your university, you will download the invoice and you are responsible of sending it yourself to your university/institute.
To register, please click here.
Cancellation conditions
Up to 6 (weeks) weeks prior to the start of the course, cancellation is free of charge.
Up to 4 (four) weeks prior to the start of the course a fee of 50% will be charged.
Up to 2 (two) weeks prior to the start of the course the full fee will be charged.
Note: If you would like to cancel your registration, ALWAYS inform us.
Also note that when there are not enough participants, we can cancel the course. We will inform you if this is the case a week after the registration deadline. Please take this into account when arranging your trip to the course (I.e. check the re-imbursement policies).