Welcome!

I am a Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at Wageningen University and Research, in the Netherlands. On my website you may find about my research team, grants, teaching and publications. Check also the new community-driven, open-access journal Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling!

News!

• Our recent review paper proposes an application-based roadmap for Digital Twins in agriculture. Digital Twins can be used pervasively at various spatial and temporal scales, and levels of complexity.

• Upcoming special issue: Machine Learning Advances Environmental Science (Deadline July 1, 2021), in Environmental Modelling and Software.

• My interview on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data meet Agriculture and Climate Change is available on the Global Greek Influence podcast.

• Our new Open Access paper in Agricultural Systems explores the benefits of machine learning in large-scale crop yield forecasting, contributing a machine learning baseline model that combines principles of crop modeling with machine learning. Early season predictions were comparable with the MARS Crop Yield Forecasting System. Accompanied with Open Data and Open Source software.

• Digital twin helps farmers with nitrogen balance: a recent interview on how the Digital Future Farm may offer insights into a farm’s nitrogen cycle (in Dutch).

Agenda

I am involved in the (organization) of the following events:

• Programme Committee Member, Enviroinfo 2021 (35th International Environmental Informatics Conference), Sep 27, 2021, Berlin, Germany.

• Programme Committee Member, Machine Learning Advances Environmental Science Workshop (MAES@ICPR2020), Jan 10, 2021, Milan, Italy.

• Keynote speaker, Participatory and Cross-Scale Modelling of Social-Ecological Systems, Oct 12, 2020, Lorentz Center@Snellius.

• co-Chair of the Programme Committee, Enviroinfo 2020 (34th International Environmental Informatics Conference, Digital Twins for Sustainability), Sep 23, 2020, Nicosia, Cyprus.

• Scientific Committee Member. Organizer of two sessions on Distributed computing in smart farming and agro-informatics, and New and improved methods in agricultural systems modelling, iEMSs 2020 (10th International Environmental Modelling and Software Society Conference, Modelling for Environmental Sustainability), Sep 14, 2020, Brussels, Belgium and online.

• Keynote speaker, AI in Natural Sciences and Technology Workshop (AINST@SETN2020), Sep 02, 2020, Athens, Greece.

• General chair of the 13th Symposium on Environmental Software Systems, ISESS 2020 (Data Science in Action), Feb 05, 2020, Wageningen.

• Scientific committee member, organizing a session on Methods and software to support modelling activities, iCropM 2020 (Crop Modelling for the Future), Feb 03, 2020, Montpellier, France.

• Organising committee member, Wageningen Data Science Week, Feb 03, 2020, Wageningen.

• Co-organizer and instructor, Graduate School Data Science for Agriculture and Food Security, Nov 25, 2019, Novi Sad, Serbia.

Recent journal articles

• Introducing digital twins to agriculture, published in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

• Machine learning for large-scale crop yield forecasting, published in Agricultural Systems

• Simulating adaptation strategies to offset potential impacts of climate variability and change on maize yields in Embu County, Kenya, published in PLOS One

• Reuse of process-based models: automatic transformation into many programming languages and simulation platforms, published in in silico Plants

• Improving predictive performance on survival in dairy cattle using an ensemble learning approach, published in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

Full list of publications.

Academic Service

Academic Journal Editorial Boards

• Environmental Modelling and Software, (Associate Editor).

• Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling, (Managing Editor).

• Environmental Policy and Law, (Editorial Board Member).

Project Scientific Advisory Boards

• SUSCAP (Developing resource use efficiency for crops under future climate extremes and air quality), EU H2020 ERA-Net Cofund Action.

• AnaEE (Analysis and Experimentation on Ecosystems), European Strategic Forum on Research Infrastructures.

• IS-GEO Intelligent Systems for Geo-Sciences, EarthCube Research Coordination Network (NSF, USA).

• New Zealand Bioeconomy in the Digital Age (Harnessing the power of digital technologies to enable the transformation of New Zealand Food Systems), AgResearch, New Zealand.

• BEACON (Boosting Agricultural Insurance based on Earth Observation data), H2020 Research and Innovation Action.

My website

This is my web office! I have developed this habit to totally restructure my website every couple of years, as an excuse to sharpen my web development skills. Nowadays, I am porting my website from Wordpress to Jekyll, while changing hosts, so please be patient!