About Jasper Dijkstra

Jasper Dijkstra is a hydraulic engineer with a keen interest in interactions between hydrodynamics, morphology and biology in all kinds of environments: For his MSc-thesis at Delft University of Technology (TUD), he combined fieldwork and numerical modelling to study the effect of riparian vegetation on the development of the Volga River, Russia, commissioned by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

During his PhD-candidacy at the same university, he shifted his focus towards estuaries and coasts and got more involved in ecology while working with Radboud University Nijmegen (RU) and the Netherlands Institute for Ecological Research (NIOO-CEME). Here, he further developed his numerical modelling skills to couple biology to sediment dynamics (e.g. extensions to Delft3D), but also performed physical experiments in laboratory flumes and in the field. Besides, he acted as a guest-lecturer for two MSc. courses and a fieldwork course.

At Deltares, Jasper is involved in more practical applications related to eco-engineering as well as basic research on eco-hydraulics and bio-geomorphology. Examples of practical applications are ‘BioBouwers’ (biological coastal protection), ‘Building with Nature’ (a cluster of applied research projects on how natural processes modify the environment) and the assessment of human impacts on morphology and ecology of the Ems-Dollard estuary. He is a member of the PIANC Envicom working group 157 that develops a guideline on ‘Environmental aspects of dredging and port construction around coastal plant habitats’.