When Erik Versluijs defends his doctorate at the University of Inland Norway's Evenstad campus on 30 January, it will be with a thesis on free-ranging livestock and how different factors affect their behaviour. Versluijs has studied this using virtual fencing technology (GPS collars) and accelerometers.
His thesis is titled "Free-Ranging Cattle in the Boreal Forest: Predicting behaviours and exploring behavioural drivers with virtual fencing technology".
His main supervisor has been Barbara Zimmermann, who is now a professor of applied ecology at the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management at INN University.
Big event in 2014
It was a big event for the then Hedmark University of Applied Sciences when the first public defence at Evenstad was held on 28 March 2014. Barbara Zimmermann defended her thesis on wolves in Scandinavia.
"It was a great honour and a real treat to be the first. It attracted a lot of attention. We had to build a stage in the gymnasium to accommodate all the guests. In the evening, there was a huge party with lots of people and a good atmosphere", she reminisces.
The program was established in 2012 as "PhD in applied ecology". A revised curriculum was approved in 2019 and the name was changed to "PhD in applied ecology and biotechnology".
The programme is interdisciplinary and aims to contribute to increased knowledge about sustainable production, use and management of biological resources. The programme has two specializations, applied ecology and biotechnology.
Zimmermann, who is currently a professor and a key figure in the academic community at the faculty, has been involved from the start.
"The doctoral programme has been a big boost for us. We have gained more employees and students from Norway and abroad, we have gained a larger academic network and it has laid the foundation for new and ground-breaking research".
She herself was promoted to professor in 2018, four years after she defended her thesis.
Supervisor and student
Erik Versluijs, originally from The Netherlands, first came to Evenstad in 2017, as an exchange student. He later wrote both his bachelor's and master's theses with Barbara Zimmermann as one of his supervisors.
"When I was offered the PhD fellowship, I had no doubt that I wanted Barbara as my main supervisor, with her seemingly boundless energy and positivity. She has a lot to do, but always makes time when needed. She helped me move forward when I felt stuck or demotivated", says Versluijs.
The supervisor is also generous with her account of her student:
"Erik has been a fantastic student to supervise. He is very analytically minded and has long surpassed me when it comes to statistics and coding. It is always so cool when I, as a supervisor, can learn from my students", says the professor.
- More about the findings in the doctoral thesis: Cattle behaviour mapped using fence collars
The public defence will be held in the Ole Olsen auditorium at the Evenstad campus and will be broadcast digitally via Zoom.
Contact information:
- barbara.zimmermann@inn.no
- Phone
- +47 62 43 08 70
- erik.versluijs@inn.no
- Phone
- +47 62 51 72 77