I am driven by curiosity about how ecosystems work and interact with the environment. I am an ecologist working on terrestrial and wetland ecosystems and their functioning in a changing world (land use change, water management, global change). I strongly believe that science has a task in sharing its knowledge with society.

Martin Wassen (1957) is emeritus professor in Environmental Sciences. He was head of the research group Environmental Sciences and was head of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development (2007-2016) at the Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University.  He has published >200 articles in refereed journals.

He was vice-president of the board of Vereniging Natuurmonumenten, an influential NGO for nature protection in the Netherlands with c. 750.000 members (2007-2015) and is a member of the Advisory Committee for National Parks in the Netherlands. He is a member of the Dutch Ecological Authority and is chairman of the Nature Advisory Committee of the Provincial Water Supply Company PWN.