Since 2015, I work as an assistant professor at the Energy and Resources group of the Copernicus Institute. My research involves multidisciplinary aspects in the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in different biomes and regions, with emphasis on the tropics (rainforests) and the Netherlands. For this, I use the concept of Forest Transitions; landscape-scale processes in which degenerated and fragmented natural ecosystems (forests) are redirected towards regeneration and restoration. The research involves a better understanding of (natural) mechanisms, incentives and policies, and changes in actor behaviour. The understanding of the (systemic) transformation of conventional farming practices to more sustainable forms that do not compromise biodiversity loss is an integral part of this research, carried out with many colleagues both in the tropics and in the Netherlands.
Together with my close colleagues Pita Verweij, René Boot and Anna Duden, we work on an NWO-FAPESP funded project on the forest transition in the Atlantic Forest Region in Brazil(project description can be found on the web pages of the UU academy of Ecosystem Services. In the Future Food Hub, I work on agricultural transformations, and in the UU focus area Institutions for Open Societies, I cooperate in the development of the Well-being Index (Brede welvaartsindicator, https://bit.ly/2m65Owv).
For these projects, I provide various internships for MSc students from Sustainable Development, International Development Studies and Environmental Biology. My further teaching involves the coordination and teaching of the Biology BSc course ‘Scientist in Policy’, lectures in the BSc program Global Sustainability Science (courses Sustainability Challenges and Global Integration Project) and in the Environmental Biology Master course Management of Natural Resources in Context.
Together with Heleen Mees, I coordinate the BSc Honoursprogramme of GSS and NW&I.