Advancing the digitalisation of the life sciences
Wageningen University & Research is known worldwide as a centre for life sciences and agricultural research. In recent years, it has also built a strong Information Technology Group. This group not only creates tools for other researchers at the university but is also developing unique expertise in software engineering, AI and data science and socio-technical systems.
The official motto of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Digitalisation is an essential tool for turning that motto into a reality. Professor Bedir Tekinerdogan realised that when he joined the university in January 2015. Tekinerdogan: ‘No one escapes digitalisation. But the life sciences have started this transformation rather late.’ With his Information Technology Group, he wants to support and accelerate this transformation. Tekinerdogan: ‘As far as we’re concerned, digitalisation of the life sciences has two main components. First, making systems smarter by making more use of software, data and AI. And second, interconnecting different systems to realise a system of systems.’ Smart farming is a good example of this. Using all kinds of sensors and the data these produce, farmers can reduce the consumption of water and energy, and use fewer pesticides and fertiliser. ‘Making systems smarter often means increasing efficiency, so doing more with less’, remarks Tekinerdogan.
Interdependence
From a group primarily focused on education and that consisted of no more than ten people seven years ago, Tekinerdogan has rebuilt the group into a research and teaching unit of about fifty people, which is still growing. The number of computer science-related courses has jumped from 14 to 30. To achieve this growth, Tekinerdogan focused on two values when hiring new people: everyone should be collaborative and performance-driven. ‘Each individual staff member needs to grow within the team’, he says. ‘Interdependence is more important than independence.’
To the outside world, the group is a computer science group focused on the life sciences, and that is pretty unique. Within Wageningen University & Research, the Information Technology Group is a generic group that can collaborate with all other research groups. Tekinerdogan: ‘On the one hand, we aim to develop concepts in our key research fields of software engineering, AI and data science, and socio-technical systems engineering. On the other hand, we want to contribute to doing smarter what Wageningen already does very well. To give an example: when we, with our background in software engineering, look at the software used in the plant sciences, then we see a lot of room for improvement in making the software more modular and adaptive. But we also see that software engineering for the life sciences has different requirements than, for example, software for financial services. New concepts therefore need to be developed. This is covered by the term research software engineering.’
Represent a greenhouse
The Information Technology Group already has a drone lab and is planning to build a life sciences-focused, immersive technologies lab that concentrates on virtual and augmented reality and haptics. Tekinerdogan also has plans for a high-performance computing lab and a lab for scientific software engineering. ‘The digitalisation of the life sciences in Wageningen is far from crystallised’, he says. ‘We started with research and education in the themes with the most pressing need: data science and AI. But we want to expand our efforts to other aspects of digitalisation.’
Assistant professor in data science Will Hurst, who joined the group in 2020, is already exploring such other aspects. His research brings the domains of data science and immersive technologies together. Hurst: ‘A concrete example is a project we are doing with the Dutch company Wastewatchers. The idea is to visualise in 3D how much food is thrown away in a restaurant. For example, we can show how big the pile of food wasted each day is compared to the size of a car. Another more futuristic example is building a VR-based digital twin of a greenhouse.’ Via this VR digital twin, the greenhouse owner can remotely walk around in the greenhouse and monitor exactly what is going on. Hurst: ‘We want to get in this field early. The main scientific challenge is to find out how to interact with the technology. How to make it more user-friendly? What exactly should we present in 3D?’
‘I like the fact that the group is more ambitious, forward-thinking and collaborative than I have experienced elsewhere’, states Hurst as he describes the characteristics of the group. ‘We all want to support innovation in the life sciences and create some tangible output. Another thing I like are the annual outings to promote group cooperation. We have visited the VR Room Ravenstein and the Netherlands Open Air Museum, and we have held a photo competition.’
Sustainable agriculture in Africa
Matthew Ayamga is doing an interdisciplinary PhD, supervised by both the Information Technology Group and the Business Management and Organisation Group, where he had previously done his masters. ‘Before joining the group, I thought that information technology was all about coding, but then I learned that it is not just technical and that the socio-technical aspects are just as important. What exactly goes into the software is an important question to ask.’
The multidisciplinary aspect that characterises his research is what he also appreciates in the Information Technology Group as a whole. ‘We have diverse scholars, with different academic and cultural backgrounds and that creates a dynamic and open atmosphere.’
Ayamga is currently spending a few months in his home country Ghana where he is collecting data for his PhD research. ‘I study digitalisation and business models for sustainable agriculture and I am using Ghana as a case study’, he explains. ‘Small- and medium-sized enterprises called Agritechs in Ghana develop all kinds of digital solutions for farmers, for example technologies that monitor moisture and temperature or leverage drone or solar technology. I want to know how these Agritechs organise their business models and their associated challenges in implementing such new technologies. My final aim is to propose new ways of doing business with digital technologies.’
Group passport
Research fields
- Software engineering, AI and data science, socio-technical systems engineering
Institution
- The Information Technology Group is part of the cluster Social Sciences at Wageningen University & Research (WUR)
Labs
- Drone lab
Employees as of October 2022
- 2 full professors, 13 assistant/associate professors, 5 postdocs, 25 PhD students, 5 support staff
Website
Published in I/O Magazine #3 2022
Text Bennie Mols
Images Ivar Pel