Marja Spierenburg
PECS, Nexus Knowledge-Action Network; Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Marja Spierenburg is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She studied Social Psychology and Anthropology at Utrecht University. In 2003 she obtained her PhD at the University of Amsterdam with a thesis on conflicts about land in northern Zimbabwe. She worked as an associate expert for the Social and Human Sciences for UNESCO in Dakar, Senegal (1998-2000) and at the Division of Ecological Sciences in Paris (2000-2001).Between 2001 and mid-2016 she has been working at the VU Amsterdam, and between 2013 and mid-2016 she also served as Scientific Director of CERES, the Research School for Resource Studies for Development. Marja Spierenburg is (co-)vice-chair of the Scientific Committee of the Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS), one of Future Earth’s Global Research Projects. She also chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of the African Studies Centre Leiden. She is currently involved in a PECS-initiative to synthesize experiences with transdisciplinarity across a range of projects, with an emphasis in integrating different kinds of knowledge systems. She is also involved in a project led by a colleague from the Stockholm Resilience Centre that aims to further develop approaches to integrate local and indigenous knowledge in the assessments conducted in relation to the IPBES. Together they have published several articles on the Multiple Evidence Based approach, which have received quite some attention worldwide. Recently, she obtained a grant – together with colleagues from the Radboud University and the African Studies Centre in Leiden – to study the different roles of civil society organizations in negotiating land conflicts in Kenya.