Marit Heideman

I have always had a strong interest in landscapes, nature and geology. After an introduction in rocks and minerals at secondary school and after visiting the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, I was, at the age of 16, determined I was going to study geology.

During my time at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam I focused on sedimentology and paleoclimatology. In one of my main projects I was involved in a marine geology research project, for which we took piston cores of the East coast of Greenland. I studied the foraminifera of two of these cores in order to reconstruct a paleoclimatic curve. The other of my main projects was closer to home, using GIS to reconstruct land use and soil changes in the Belgium Ardens.

After graduating I worked for a couple of years, but I felt dissatisfied in my jobs and I returned to university (this time in Maastricht, in the southern part of The Netherlands), where I started in a Master program called 'Society, Science and Technology'. My aim was to broaden my horizon, without losing my background in Geology. When I had to write my thesis, all the pieces of my former and, at that time, present education came together, when I realized I was most interested in risk issues relating to Earth Sciences. In my thesis on Transboundary River Management I assessed the international cooperation on the risk of flooding along a river which flows through The Netherlands, Belgium and France from a social science perspective. This showed to be quite complex, as the different countries all have their own river management strategies, but do not always take into account what the effects of their management may be on upstream or downstream countries/ areas.

My PhD project at SFU will be a combination of Earth and Social Sciences. Under the supervision of Prof. John Clague I will study the flooding events that have taken place along the Lillooet River near Pemberton, B.C. We will try to reconstruct a record of flooding events over approximately the past 1,000 years, and will subsequently attempt to determine the causes of these floods, which could possibly be related to climate change or geological processes in the basin. The history of these flooding events in the basin could than hopefully be used to aid future flood prediction, as well as to increase public and governmental awareness and understanding of the flood risk. This latter aspect will form the second main aim of my thesis.

Education

MA Society, Science and Technology Studies, 2003, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands

MSc Geology, 1999, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

For more information, please send e.mail to: mheidema@sfu.ca