Prof. dr. Esther Turnhout is chair of Science, Technology and Society at the Section of Knowledge, Transformation & Society (KiTeS), University of Twente, The Netherlands.

She is an interdisciplinary social scientist with expertise in science and technology studies, environmental studies, and political science. Her research and teaching concerns the interactions between science, diverse knowledge systems, policy, and society with a specific focus on issues of nature, biodiveristy, and sustainability. She is commited to exploring and improving the contribution of science, education, and knowledge to needed transformations in policy, society and economy for human and non-human wellbeing en flourishing. She has published numerous articles on the biodiversity science-policy interface and other topics in high impact journals and she is also the first author of the book Environmental Expertise: Connecting Science, Policy and Society’ with Cambridge University Press.

 She plays several active roles in the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and was an author of the IPBES Global Assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services and the IPBES Transformative Change assessment.