Successful MARID VIII in Enschede!

From 12-15 April, the MFS group of the Civil Engineering Department hosted a successful international conference on Marine and River Dune Dynamics (MARID). Bedform enthusiasts from around the world gathered in Enschede for MARID VIII. This year’s edition, organized by the University of Twente, took place in the unique setting of the FC Twente Stadium. Early-career and senior researchers as well as professionals working on marine or riverine bedforms came together for knowledge exchange, discussion, and collaboration.

Highlights of the Event:

The event kicked off with a masterclass by Pieter Roos on linear stability analysis in the field of marine and riverine bedforms. Together we explored dunes from both a mathematical and physical perspective. Monday and Tuesday were all about bedforms, featuring inspiring keynote lectures by Alice Lefebvre, Giovanni Coco and Roy Frings. These were followed by interesting oral presentations and poster sessions covering flume experiment, field campaigns and numerical modelling. While all presentations were of very high quality, a few stood out. Carolina Consuegra Sanchez won the best oral presentation award with her talk about bedform adjustment in a salt wedge. Rowan Sonnemans and Guiliana Andrea Díaz-Mendoza received the best poster awards. Rowan's work focused on ripple characterisation in the North Sea, while Giuliana's focused on human-induced bedforms in the southwestern Baltic Sea.  On Wednesday, we visited the Waterloopbos, formerly home to the Waterbouwkundig Laboratorium. Here, scale models of, among others, the Deltawerken, the harbour of Bankok and the bifurcation at the IJsselkop were build and tested. The day concluded with a visit to Giethoorn, where we explored the small Dutch town, who likes to call himself “Little Venice”, by boat.

 
A big thank you to all the participants, presenters, and organizers for making MARID VIII a memorable event!