Johan Bouma received his MSC and PhD degree at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and served as a postdoc at the Soils Dept. University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA, studying soil disposal of septic tank effluent. In 1973 he became a UW Associate Professor with tenure. In 1975 he returned with his family to the Netherlands where he started the Deptartment of Soil Physics at the Netherlands Soil Survey Institute (STIBOKA), becoming Deputy Director in charge of research in 1983. In 1986, he joined Wageningen University as Professor of Soil Inventarisation and Land Evaluation, a position from which he retired in 2004. His research covered water and solute movement in structured soils, relating soil morphology to flow patterns; development of pedotransferfunctions; effects of soil management defined in terms of phenoforms, to be derived from a given taxonomic soil-genoform; land use policy; and interactive research with stakeholders and policy makers . From 1998 to 2003 he was a member of the Scientific Council for Government Policy, a think-tank in the prime minister’s office. He is a fellow of the SSSA (1983), an elected member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (1989) and a Korrespondierender Mitglied Deutsche Bdenkundliche Gesellschaft ( 1989).

photo: Harco Jellema