I am interested in understanding the potential of urban nature to transform people-environment relationships. My research explores how green and blue infrastructure contributes to the development of sustainable and just cities across different sociocultural contexts. My goal is to help answer questions around the design, planning and mainstreaming of urban nature-based solutions, which I study using both qualitative and quantitative methods. My core research themes are environmental governance, sustainability transformations and knowledge co-production.

I am an Assistant Professor in urban greening at The Urban Institute, Heriot-Watt University. I have a track record of research on urban governance of nature, forests and green infrastructure, while also bringing expertise in pathways to mainstreaming of nature-based solutions and co-creation processes. I am interested in understanding barriers and opportunities influencing urban nature innovations from a socio-ecological and socio-technical systems perspective. I am driven by the ambition to create more healthy, sustainable and inclusive cities benefiting the well-being of both people and non-human species. I take great pleasure in working at the science-policy interface, which allows for the co-production of knowledge contributing to addressing current sustainability challenges. I was awarded with the Utrecht University's Pathways to Sustainability Award in 2020 for excellence in transdisciplinary research.

I previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Wageningen University & Research on the Horizon 2020 research project CONEXUS where I co-developed a participatory assessment framework for nature-based solutions (NBS) in Latin American and southern European cities. I also held positions as social scientist at Utrecht University (Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development) on the H2020 NATURVATION project, Forest Research in Edinburgh (UK) on the FP7 GREEN SURGE project and Alterra (Wageningen University & Research). I holds a PhD in environmental psychology (University of Aberdeen, The James Hutton Institute), an MSc (Distinction) in Social and Organizational Psychology (Leiden University) and a BSc in Psychology (Leiden University).