Best Presentation Award for CEM Student at NCK Days 2026

CEM student Michiel Broenink has won the Best Presentation award at the annual conference of the Netherlands Centre for Coastal Research -NCK Days 2026- for his presentation ‘Mapping hydrodynamic drivers of hypersalinity in mangrove ecosystems.’

Michiel is currently finishing his Master’s thesis, for which he travelled to the mangroves of Lac Bay in Bonaire. In his thesis, Michiel investigates how the reduced tidal connectivity in Lac Bay controls the salinity in this microtidal mangrove system, leading to the deterioration of the landward side of this mangrove forest. Michiel quantifies these dynamics through an in-depth analysis of field-data and he elevates these data with a numerical model to investigate the effectiveness of possible restoration measures to reduce the vulnerability of microtidal mangroves to hypersaline conditions.

Michiel’s work is part of ongoing research of the Coastal Systems and Nature-Based Engineering group in Lac Bay, Bonaire. This project is a collaboration with Matthijs van der Geest (Wageningen Marine Research), Rik Gijsman (IHE Delft) and Sabine Engel (Mangrove Maniacs). Michiel is supervised by Erik Horstman and Kathelijne Wijnberg (UT).