dr.ir. HM (Henrice) Jansen

Dr.ir. H (Henrice) Jansen works on the application of the ecosystem approach to aquaculture and the reciprocal interactions between aquaculture and the environment aiming to increase the sustainability of aquatic food production. Within her research there is special reference to Low Trophic Aquaculture such as the cultivation of shellfish and seaweed, including eco-physiological studies and evaluation of the balance between beneficial ecosystem services and environmental trade-offs e.g. with regard to carrying capacity and biodiversity. She works closely together with Wageningen Marine Research on shellfish production in the Dutch coastal and offshore waters, and with the Institute of Marine Research (Norway) on the development of sustainable/circular aquaculture systems such as Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA).

It is my ambition to make a significant contribution to the transition towards sustainability driven food production in the aquatic realm, which targets SDGs while taking into account the continuously changing ecological and social boundary conditions. Sustainability aspects of aquatic production have been the red line throughout my career. This started off in Wageningen where I graduated with specializations in both Animal Production System (APS) and Aquaculture & Fisheries (AFI),  already by then (2005) showing my interest in combining the disciplines ‘sustainability’ and ‘aquatic food production’. Ever since I have worked as an (applied) scientist and project manager focussing on circularity, environmental trade-offs and optimization of aquatic food production in The Netherlands, Europe and Asia. Within my work there has been a special interest towards shellfish eco-physiology and efficiency of integrated production systems (IMTA). Approaches applied in my research involved field and laboratory experiments that answer basic ecological questions related to e.g. nutrient cycling, biodiversity and system productivity, and provide solutions to management problems. Although the majority of my experimental work consist of farm and ecosystem scale studies, this work is also placed into the broader context of global food system analysis and within an interdisciplinary setting. Besides scientific work, I have been involved in (networking) organisations such as the scientific committee in province of Zeeland, board member of the European Aquaculture Society and participated in the ICES working group on aquaculture.