About me

I am a lecturer at Van Hall Larenstein in Leeuwarden. I teach policy issues related to marine management.

My work focusses on local governance processes related to issues of sustainability and climate change. I look at how policies impact people, their daily practices and their place. How policies “travel” from their institute to the daily reality and how they are transformed in the process. In others, I am interested in these dynamic processes where policy can lead to unexpected outcomes and governance is fluid.

Scientifically, I engage with the theoretical debates on critical institutional thinking, practice-based approach and the notion of place.

In the past, I have studied these issues related to forest management in the Amazon of Bolivia and Ecuador, nature governance in Europe, ecotourism in Papua New Guinea and at global policy platforms such as the climate change conventions. See my research projects for an overview of that work. Recently, I am looking at coastal communities and how they manage themselves in relation to climate change and marine policies.

I hold a PhD. on forest governance in the Amazon (Wageningen University, 2010). I have a MSc. in policy and organization (Utrecht University, 2006) and a BSc and MSc in rural development sociology (Wageningen University, 2001).

In my free time, I love to be outdoors: walking, running and sailing.