I am a senior researcher in the international policy department at Wageningen Economic Research, part of Wageningen University and Research. I am also a guest research scholar (out of office) at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA).
I try to combine my economic and quantitative background with experience from working and living in various developing countries to analyze research questions related to economic growth, food and nutrition security, and climate change. As tackling these large and complex issues requires a multi-disciplinary and integrated approach, I use a variety of tools, including global simulation models, in particular our in-house computable general equilibrium model MAGNET, spatial microsimulation, econometric analysis and GIS, and like to collaborate with agronomists, hydrologists and other scientists from different fields.
Current research projects include improving the creation of crop distribution maps (in collaboration with colleagues from the International Food Policy Research Institute), development of a spatial microsimulation model to assess future patterns of income, poverty and consumption change and the application of machine learning approaches to map the location of farmers. In my free time, you can find me on a skate- kitesurf or snowboard. In case there is time left, I also enjoy playing football, running, collecting records on vinyl and going to live concerts.
PhD in Technology and Development Studies, 2004
Faculty of Technology Management, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
MSc in Quantitative Economics, 1999
Faculty of Economics, Maastricht University, the Netherlands