"Observing lake water quality is the first step in safeguarding their sustainable use for future generations. Every improvement in the science or the engineering behind our global observation capability, whether through advanced computing, using new sensors or by enabling citizens, brings us one step closer to realising that goal. "
Stefan is a phytoplankton ecologist using bio-optics to study biogenous matter in coastal and inland waters. His scientific contributions include remote sensing algorithm development, in situ sensor development and automation (mainly reflectance and fluorescence systems), citizen science solutions and bio-optical modelling based on laboratory experiments and field campaigns.
Having joined PML in 2014, Stefan developed a growing portfolio of inland water quality remote sensing projects, participating in NERC GloboLakes, Copernicus INFORM, FP7 EartH2Observe, BONUS FerryScope, H2020-TAPAS and H2020-EOMORES. Stefan coordinates the €5M H2020-MONOCLE project and is science co-lead of the ESA Climate Change Initiative project on Lakes.
Stefan graduated for his MSc in Biology (Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics) at the University of Amsterdam in 2002 and obtained his PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam when he completed his thesis (“Blue-Green Catastrophe: remote sensing of mass viral lysis of cyanobacteria’) at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, in 2006. He was a post-doc at the Laboratoire d’Oceanography (Villefranche-sur-Mer) in 2007 and held postdoctoral research grants (Marie Curie IEF and Academy of Finland) on phytoplankton primary production at the Finnish Marine Institute and the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE). Before joining PML in 2014 he acted as PI on FP7-PROTOOL and FP7-WaterS, AlgaLume, and as Co-I in FP7-CoBiOS, FP7-DEVOTES, FP7-Jerico and ESA-BalMon as senior scientist at SYKE. Stefan is adjunct professor in Aquatic Sciences at the University of Helsinki (since 2014) and honorary Professor at the University of Stirling department of Natural Sciences (since 2020).