I am a Geographer specialising in the management, development and leadership of spatial research on agricultural systems, food security and their relation to natural resource management. My research focuses on how spatial data and technology can be combined with other sources of information to provide better, faster and more detailed data on the "where", "when", "how" and "how much" of food production and food systems as a whole. Before joining the University of Twente, I worked for over 20 years in international research and policy institutes such as the CGIAR, the World Bank, and the European Commission.
I am professor in Spatial Agriculture and Food Security at ITC. ITC is the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente.
I am involved in DeSIRE to help address the challenge of making our food systems more resilient. The NRS department in ITC hosts a tenure track position for DeSIRE on the Spatial transformation of food systems and a PhD candidate on spatially targeted governance measures as potential drivers of and solutions to future food insecurity who work with me on this challenge.
Our food systems are transforming due to rapid changes in how and where we produce food, how and where we process food, and also changes in consumer preferences and demands. This transformation has resilience at its core. Future food systems must be able to anticipate, absorb, and recover from disasters and crises, whilst also protecting and restoring the natural resources that food production depends upon. 4TU RE is well placed to contribute to this challenge via engineering solutions for more resilient social-ecological systems.