The
Researchers
Meet the researchers with a crush on water.
Milo de Baat
Assistant Professor in Water Quality & Ecotoxicology
Laura Burgers
Assistant Professor University of Amsterdam | climate litigation and rights of nature
Annemarie van Wezel
Scientific Director and Professor of Environmental Ecology, Dean Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University
Reinout Wiers
Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, department of Psychology, UvA, Co-Chair of International interdisciplinary Centre for Global Mental Health.
Joyeeta Gupta
Professor of environment and development in the global south at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research of the University of Amsterdam and IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, and Distinguished Professor of Climate Justice, Sustainability and Global Constitutionalism at the University of Amsterdam.
Rutgerd Boelens
Professor Political Ecology of Water in Latin America, CEDLA, University of Amsterdam. Professor Water Governance & Social Justice, Wageningen University, Riverhood & River Commons (www.movingrivers.org)
Elisabeth Krueger
Assistant Professor at University of Amsterdam, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) UvA Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Resilience and Sustainability of Urban Water Supply Systems.
Andrea Müller
Postdoctoral Researcher at UvA | PhD in Water Resources Management | Biochemical Engineer, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, program Group: Governance and Inclusive Development, University of Amsterdam
Victoria Degeler
Assistant Professor at University of Amsterdam Informatics Institute. 💧 Coordinator of DiTEC, a collaboration withVitensto create a Digital Twin of the Dutch water network ecosystem.
Vittoria Giada Scalera
Associate Professor of International Business & Director "A Sustainable Future" @ Amsterdam Business School
Mark van der Veen
Associate Professor Strategy and Sustainability, Research on Sea Port Environmental Strategies University of Amsterdam
Lies Jacobs
Assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam in Citizen Science and Environmental Risk | Project coordinator of SISTEM-NL: citizen science project for reducing microplastic emissions from laundry in the Netherlands | Project coordinator of ENLENS: project on the impact of shocks on energy provision in Ethiopia.
Antonia Praetorius
Antonia Praetorius is an assistant professor in Environmental Chemistry at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (University of Amsterdam).
Bernd Ensing
Scientific director of the interdisciplinary AI4Science Lab, exploring the impact of AI for the Science and Associate Professor of Computational Chemistry, specifically within the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences of the University of Amsterdam
Marrigje Paijmans
Assistant Professor at the University for Amasterdam, where I aim to bridge the gap between historical and modern literature in my teaching and research
Harm van der Geest
Assistant Professor Aquatic Environmental Ecology (AEE) at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED). Coordinator research master Fresh Water & Marine biology, University of Amsterdam. Focus: understanding ecosystems disturbed by human activities. Initiator research vessel for ecological research
Fabio de Castro
Senior Lecturer Political Ecology, CEDLA, University of Amsterdam, Coordinator Master Program in Latin American Studies, University of Amsterdam
Jannes Willems
Assistent professor in Urban Planning, Interdisciplinary & transdisciplinary researcher with a focus on how cities cope with climate change,the creation of new water infrastructues and fieldwork in Western-European cities.
Katusha Sol
Placemaking expert at the University of Amsterdam, educational developer & designer in both changemaking and placemaking, project design, founder of foundation Placemakers
Mohammad Sadia
Academic researcher PFAS in drinking water, Research Associate, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam. Project partner minor Collective Futures UvA on PFAS Contamination.
Jasper de Goeij
Associate Professor of Marine Benthic Ecology, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) at University of Amsterdam (UvA). Head of Department Freshwater and Marine Ecology UvA.
Bas Kolen
Professor Enterprise Risk Management University of Amsterdam, research group Actuarial Science and Mathematical Finance, Amsterdam School of Economics (1 day a week). Director Research and Development at HKV lijn in water (4 days a week)
Peter van Dam
Professor of Dutch History University of Amsterdam | Coordinator research group 'Environment & Society: contestation & governance', which explores how we have thought about the relations between humans and nature, and how people campaigned and negotiated around environmental issues and climate change. He is also a co-founder of SEVEN, the UvA's climate institute.
Hilmer Bosch
Dr. Hilmer Bosch | Postdoctoral researcher | Governance and Inclusive Development (GID) research group | Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development Studies | Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) | University of Amsterdam
Hebe Verrest
Associate professor International Development Studies at the Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies (GPIO) of the University of Amsterdam
Klaas Schwartz
Professor by special appointment of Water Services Governance UvA at the University of Amsterdam’s (UvA) Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. The chair is endowed by IHE Delft Institute for Water Education. This chair focuses on the governance and management of the water supply.
Huub Dijstelbloem UvA
Director of the Institute for Advanced Study and Professor of Philosophy of Science, Technology and Politics at the University of Amsterdam
Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh
Dr. Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh is an Associate Professor of Sustainability Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Amsterdam. Co-founder of SEVEN, the new climate institute of the University of Amsterdam
Zeph van Berlo
Professor (assistant) of persuasive communication, Amsterdam School of Communication Science, University of Amsterdam. Expertise: Immersive technology, Virtual reality (VR), Augmented reality (AR), Gamified advertising, Advergames
Cameron Brick
Assistant Professor of Social Psychology with tenure, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Felipe Bucci Ancapi
Circular Economy Policy Analyst & Researcher UvA, Sustainability Ports
Dick den Hertog
Professor of Operations Research at the Business school of the University of Amsterdam and 'Science to Impact Director' at researchlab 'Analytics for A Better World' (ABW) of the University of Amsterdam.
Luc van Vliet
Researcher specialised in environmental governance and climate and water justice, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, GPIO : Governance and Inclusive Development (GPIO) University Amsterdam. Also researcher for the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW)
Yen-Chia Hsu
Assistant professor at the Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam. Expertise: co-designing, implementing, deploying, and evaluating interactive AI systems that empower communities, especially in addressing environmental and social issues
Maria Kaika
Professor in Urban Regional and Environmental Planning at the University of Amsterdam. Foundational thinker in the field of Urban Political Ecology. Director Centre for Urban Studies, University of Amsterdam
Fenna Smits
Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Amsterdam, Anthropology of Health, Care and the Body, Clean Water Project (Water Quality Management)
Max Verweg
PhD Biodiverse Urban Waterfronts, Freshwater and Marine Ecology (FAME), Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam
Sabine Gollner
Dr. Gollner is Senior scientist at NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. As Marine Biologist, she specialises in the ecology of deep-sea communities and hydrothermal vents. In 2023 she received a NWO award for research on ecosystems in the ocean floor. She has been Managing Editor of the journal “Marine Biodiversity” and worked previously at the German Center for Marine Biodiversity Research, Senckenberg, Germany.
Furu Mienis
Dr. Furu Mienis is Senior scientist NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. As Marine Geologist she specializes in the deep-sea carbon cycle, with a focus on how submarine canyons transport organic material from coastal zones to the ocean depths. Her interdisciplinary research, combining sedimentology, ecology, and oceanography, investigates how particle transport processes shape and sustain vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems such as cold-water coral reefs and sponge grounds.
Adriaan Mels
Adriaan Mels has a PhD on energy-efficient wastewater treatment technologies for urban settings. For 16 years Mels worked for VEI, improving water and wastewater services for people in the global South. He is currently chairholder of Water Technology and Metropolitan Solutions at Environmental Technology at Wageningen University & Research. His research focuses on urban circularity and on the removal of pathogens and micro-pollutants such as PFAS and pharmaceutical residues from drinking and wastewater.
Shahab Shariat Torbaghan
Dr. Shahab Shariat Torbaghan is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Smart Grids in Urban Energy and Water Systems at Wageningen University & Research. His research applies sequential decision-making under uncertainty, optimization, and machine learning to water and energy infrastructure. A senior IEEE member, he has contributed to major European H2020 projects and collaborates with partners including the City of Amsterdam, AMS Institute, water companies, and universities in the Netherlands and abroad.
Jan Post
Dr. Jan Post is Deputy Program Director at Wetsus, where he connects research excellence with societal and commercial relevance. His expertise lies in water purification technologies and energy storage, and he coordinates the themes Desalination and Priority Compounds & Virus Control. He also chairs the Program Board of TKI Water Technology, the national platform aligning research institutes on water technology innovation. He holds a PhD in Environmental Technology (Wageningen University, 2009).
Dave Huitema
Prof. Dave Huitema is Chair of Public Administration and Policy at Wageningen University & Research. His research examines the role of government in sustainability transformations—how governments can facilitate, trigger, and adapt to change. He studies policy entrepreneurship, learning processes (citizen participation, experiments, evaluation), and the impact of citizen collectives in domains such as water, climate, and energy. He has led and contributed to multiple national and international projects on adaptive governance and water policy.
Irene Luque Martín
Dr. Irene Luque Martín is Assistant Professor at TU Delft’s Department of Urbanism, specializing in research-by-design and design-by-research. With over a decade of experience in urban planning, she focuses on water resilience, energy transition, and circular development in vulnerable territories. Her work challenges conventional practices through radical spatial imagination and collaborative design. Irene is committed to transforming spatial design academia and practice, while equipping future urban designers to become agents of change in sustainability transitions.
Henk Ovink
Henk Ovink is Executive Director and founding Commissioner of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water. From 2015–2024 he served as the Netherlands’ first Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, co-leading the UN 2023 Water Conference and building global coalitions across governments, multilateral organizations, and the private sector. Previously, Ovink advised President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Task Force, pioneering resilience strategies including Rebuild by Design. He is internationally recognized for water diplomacy and transformative leadership.
Paul Groth
Prof. Paul Groth leads the Intelligent Data Engineering Lab (INDElab) at the University of Amsterdam’s Informatics Institute. His research focuses on intelligent systems for managing diverse, large-scale knowledge, with applications in science and the web. He has contributed to data provenance, integration, and knowledge sharing, and co-chaired the W3C Provenance Working Group. Groth is also Disruptive Technology Director at Elsevier Labs and has held positions at USC and VU Amsterdam.
Inez Maria Zwetsloot
Dr Zwetsloot is associate professor of business analytics at the University of Amsterdam. She is also leading the "AI for Business Lab". Before that she worked at City University of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2023. Her research focusses on business and industry analytics. She combines theoretical research on statistical method for system analytics with (industry) collaborative projects focused on data-driven systems for improved decision making.
Jasper Griffioen
Prof. Jasper Griffioen holds the Chair of Water Quality Management at Utrecht University’s Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development and is senior researcher at TNO Geological Survey of the Netherlands. Trained in Earth Sciences (VU Amsterdam), he specializes in environmental hydrology and geochemistry for sustainable soil and water management. His research spans groundwater contamination, geo-energy technologies, and risks to drinking water and ecosystems, with international experience across Europe, Asia, and Africa, and extensive advisory roles for governments.