FOUNDER AND OWNER
I - Angelina Souren - established SmarterScience in Amsterdam in 1997, and relocated to the United Kingdom at the end of 2004.
Like any other business, SmarterScience has had its ups and downs.
In the UK, I have been plagued by long bouts of communication problems, to do with faulty phone lines or
address mixups cascading down multiple British databases (not to mention electricity hiccups and other British quirks).
Triple redundancy is often a must in the UK! I have learned this the hard way, and am always grateful to have the
assistance of colleagues and friends on the continent and in the US. Below are two examples of the partners I
cooperate with.
Hoeflaken Geoconsultants
Drs. Frans van Hoeflaken - sedimentologist and stratigrapher with extensive experience in exploratory and
preparatory fieldwork, particularly in Asia.
I met Frans during a geological fieldwork in Spain in the summer of 1986 and we've stayed in touch since then.
Frans is dedicated, skilled, resourceful and wonderful to work with. Nothing wrong with his sense of humor
either, by the way. Frans is based in Amsterdam. I contacted Frans
for instance when a geologist from an oil
country in the Middle East wanted to talk about fieldwork, and writing it all up for oil companies and scientific journals.
Frans stems from a family of earth scientists and has just spent two years in
Papua New Guinea,
where he worked as a field geologist for the EU.
Krivaja Translations
Dr. Ir. Marianne Kerkhof - mathematician and technical physicist with teaching experience in
computer science and specialized in translations in these fields
Marianne and I have been members of
NIMF, a large Dutch network for women in science
for many years. We have cooperated numerous times and refer to each other's businesses whenever appropriate.
Marianne is the person you need to talk to if for example
you need a translation of a mathematics book or a bulky SAP manual from English into Dutch.
That's me there on the right - with Dutch environmental chemistry colleagues
I am a marine biogeochemist and geologist with a previous background in hospitality (Tourist Office Amsterdam and Holiday Inn Amsterdam). Among other things, I hold a Master's degree in geology from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and an extracurricular diploma in chemical oceanography from the same university, in cooperation with
NIOZ.
I have worked at universities in the Netherlands, the US, and the UK. I have carried out geological fieldwork in Spain, Sweden, Germany, France and Belgium and also made various field trips.
I have served as a member of the board and many committees of one of the Netherlands' largest organizations of women in science
(NIMF)
and on the board of the Environmental Chemistry Section of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society
(KNCV).
For eleven years, I was one of the associate editors of the international newsletter of the US-based Geochemical Society.
Have any questions? Want to have a friendly chat? E-mail me , skype me or contact me via Twitter.
This is me on geological fieldwork in Sweden, in a boat between the harbor of Loftahammar and a small uninhabited island called Ekö, in the Baltic Sea.
At the start, I modeled my business on the great diversity and the large number of tasks university scientists have.
The inspiration came from a chemist at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam who I was chatting with and then sighed that he
wished he still had the time to keep up with all the literature.
One of the things I did for my colleagues in academia was carry out those literature studies for them, for example as a preparation for papers or research proposals they wanted tot write, or simply for the teaching materials they handed out to
their students. I also provided scientific editing services, which saved them a great
deal of time and made it easier for them to get published.
The initial name of my business was Armadillo Research Services.
That partly explains the logo SmarterScience used for more than 13 years, which was a nine-banded armadillo.
The nine-banded armadillo
is a unique animal, as well as a very fast swimmer and a remarkable survivor in challenging conditions,
in which it tends to expand its territory whereas other mammals retreat. How inspiring!
In the second half of 2010, I designed a new logo. It is more dynamic, and hints at my initials as
well as at the business name and the internet. It was time for a change.
Yes, I am also the author of that widely used review on the environmental and analytical
chemistry of cyanide published in the
newsletter of the Geochemical Society and yes, I also wrote that article about the history of geochemistry.
And that discussion about fungi in the marine environment and their role in the oxidation of various metals? That was
written by yours truly as well.
I wrote numerous short and not-so-short articles for the Geochemical Society and I wrote about
environmental chemistry for the members of the Environmental Chemistry Section or the Royal
Netherlands Chemical Society and their colleagues in toxicology and
geochemistry.
I wrote for civil and environmental engineers all over the world, and I also wrote that
hilarious essay on the year 2000 - it made lots of laughter bubble up
in my grade-school class - and I figured the universe might simply be a giant's toy - but
what was the giant sitting in, then?
The person who provided zoos, private persons and others all over the world with information about armadillos and
even offered a recipe for what to put in the bottle to feed pups? Yep, that too.
I also keep a list with various of my activities
online, as it enables people to
find me if they happened to forget my name, but remember me from a workshop or other event.
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