CENSUS Foundation - Organisation

The Census Foundation The CENSUS foundation was established in 1998. Reason for that was the need to commit available expertise to the conservation of animal species and their habitats on a national and international level. Involvement The CENSUS Foundation contributes by means of applying and exchanging knowledge and experience to the conservation of animal wildlife and their habitats. The Census Foundation offers also a professional support to the interpretation of the responsibility of governments, land-managing agencies and others towards nature and species conservation in the Netherlands. Much attention is given to the (the exchange and improvement of methods of) monitoring of the distribution of mammals and the collection and disclosure of data collected in the past. Species protection always starts by determining deverlopments in populations. International The CENSUS foundation knows an explicit international element in its objectives as well. The Census Foundation has initiated projects in the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Finland and Poland. In an international context the Census Foundation stimulates scientifically based fieldwork, strives for standardising research methods and aims to improve contacts between involved parties. Praktice CENSUS is a practical foundation and works non-profit. Census cooperates with all parties coming in comment. This is important of course in the first place for collecting the required data. But most of all with a close cooperation between experts in the field the protection of species and habitat has been also served. Practice shows that in the field the first ideas are frequently developed to reach a responsable and justifiable management. Experts The experts of CENSUS have a broad experience with species and habitat protection, nature conservation, consultancy, monitoring surveys, field research and monitoring of indigenous wildlife in Europe. Within the CENSUS foundation four specialists are active. Below a short description of their contexts is presented.



Dr. Maerten Prins Vanaf 1 januari 2010 voorzitter van Stichting Census. Maerten Prins studeerde in 1989 af aan de Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen Zijn hoofdrichting was Cultuur- en godsdienstpsychologie, met als bijvak criminologie. Hierna werkte hij bij Hoogveld instituut, het ITS in Nijmegen en de Erasmus Universiteit. Op het moment is hij werkzaam als docent aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen. Zijn specialiteit is de diversiteit bij mensen, met name waar dat vorm krijgt in culturen. Zo vindt hij de wisselwerking tussen individu en de hem omringende cultuur erg fascinerend. In zijn nieuwe functie als voorzitter van de stichting Census is hij vooral geïnteresseerd in de wisselwerking tussen cultuur en natuur, tussen mens en dier. Op dit moment is Maerten ook voorzitter van het Genootschap van cultuur- en godsdienstpsychologen. Zijn grote hobby is fotografie.

Floris van Kuijk Floris van Kuijk studied environmental geography at the University of Nijmegen (KUN). After his study he worked 4 years for the Society Das&Boom. Here he gained wide experience with research (distribution surveys, disturbances of setts, mortality under badgers, tracing and trapping of orphaned badger-cubs) and consultancy (particularly concerning spatial developments in badgers habitat). During his work for the Society Das&Boom he participated in the field work done for the Dassencensus of 2000 for the ministry of LNV. At the moment he works at the conservation department of Vogelbescherming Nederland, the Dutch partner of Birdlife International. Floris van Kuijk is secretary of the Foundation.

Kees Campfens Kees Campfens is for the past 20 years active as fieldworker for the Dutch NGO Das&Boom. His fieldwork consists of reporting, documentation, consultancy, distribution research, tracking and criminal investigations. In this period he was also involved in the research concerning the distribution of the European hamster in the Netherlands. Furthermore he was active in the national Badger surveys in the Netherlands of 1995 and 2000. From 1995 onwards he coordinates the monitoring programme of the badger population in the regions Rijk van Nijmegen (NL) and Reichswald (GE) in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Kees Campfens received his training as a photographer at the Royal Academy in The Hague. During the years he built up a vast photographic collection on the badger and its habitat in the Netherlands. Kees Campfens is co-founder of the CENSUS Foundation.
Sylvia Sanders Sylvia Sanders works as a teacher of chemistry, physics and biology at Notre Dame des Anges, a school for higher general secondary education in Beek-Ubbergen, Netherlands. She is a co-founder of the Census Foundation and as its treasurer she is responsible for the foundation's financial management. In addition to that she has been involved in a number of research projects as an assistant fieldworker.