Biodiversity loss is one of the biggest societal challenges humans face. The simplification of ecosystems decreases the provision of goods and services that humankind depends upon (e.g. water, food, air quality). Increasing ecosystems diversity and heterogeneity are therefore critical societal goals that require integrated solutions that exist scattered across different disciplines, theories and methodologies in social sciences, political science and environmental economics, as well as from outside the scientific community. A transdisciplinary facilitator is a person (working in a team) whose role is to purposefully create the conditions that allow representatives of different disciplines, of the private and the public sectors, and of the civil society, to co-produce knowledge.for the definition of actions that transform social-ecological systems. To be  leading edge, the research of a transdisciplinary facilitator develops along two trajectories: (1) a specific theme (e.g. biodiversity loss, climate change, sustainability) and (2) research on transdisciplinary theory building itself.

I combine theory and practice to develop transformative solutions and uncover vital missing knowledge through transdisciplinary facilitation. My specific focus is on sustainability at local and global scale. Building on my background in biology I make use of concepts such as carrying capacity, non-linear relationships, and resilience in structuring collaborative dialogue between scientific and tacit knowledge.

In the process I also explore the critical role, skill sets and value of transdisciplinary facilitators. Such facilitation models and roles are already well utilized in the field of urban development with the implementation of co-design processes in planning projects. Yet, this role in not well recognized and explicit in the field of natural resource management. 

My work divides into two mainstreams: (1) systems thinking and participatory approaches in the development of decision support systems to the analysis of management options and (2) development of methodological approaches, principals and conditions to advance the field of transdiciplinarity. I also have a dedicated set of work and expertise in the field of sustainable transitions and natural resource management.

In my CV, you will find 41 publications, 53% as the first author, and 82% working in teams of more than three authors. The scientific journals I target are recognized internationally, so 29% of my publications are published, for example in Tourism Management, Journal of Cleaner Production, Sustainability Science, Ecosystem Services. All of them with impact factors higher than 6. I also attempt to contribute as a reviewer at least once every two months, so in my Web of Science record, there are 5 Verified Peer Reviews (in the last 12 months).In total 10% of my publications are in the First Quartile and 19% in the Second Quartile.