Share An impressive number of three scientists from Utrecht University have been nominated for the Wetenschapstalentprijs (Science Talent Prize) for 2021. Science journal New Scientist awards the prize each year to promising and talented young scientists from the Netherlands and Flanders. From 20 April to 3 May 2021, you can vote for your favourite researcher on the New Scientist website. So allow us to introduce the talent! Our world is changing, and we are losing biodiversity every day. But imagine yourself in a tropical rain forest, surrounded by an unbelievable variety of species. Some are everywhere you look, while others only occasionally come into view. But what determines whether a species is common or rare? How does that change from one place to another, or over time? How will climate change influence these patterns? And what will happen to our biodiversity? These are the questions that Dr. Edwin Pos studies with the help of field work, mathematics and models. His knowledge and application of these techniques are needed now more than ever, in our age of global change and decreasing biodiversity: how many species are we losing due to deforestation, for example, and how can we best maintain or restore these systems? And how can we utilise that knowledge in the Netherlands and around the world? In his role as Scientific Director of Utrecht University’s Botanic Gardens, he not only studies these questions, but also develops new lines of research and education, works on maintaining and expanding botanical collections, and sharing that knowledge with society.