Environmental Policy Group @WUR

We’re delighted to welcome Claire Hoolohan as a visiting scholar at the Environmental Policy Group this month. Today, Claire will give a seminar on: Rethinking research practices: Mobilising social practice theory and the Change Points Toolkit in environmental governance Room 0072, De Leeuwenborch Tuesday May 19 | 13:30–14:30 In this talk, Claire reflects on a decade of transdisciplinary environmental governance research and explores how social practice theories can move beyond behaviour change approaches to support more transformative forms of sustainability governance. Drawing on collaborations with government, industry and NGO partners, she will introduce the Change Points Toolkit and discuss how practice-theoretic approaches can reshape both research and policy interventions. The seminar will present insights from projects on water governance, “unflushables”, water efficiency evaluation, and practice-oriented monitoring and analysis, highlighting the challenges and possibilities of embedding social practice theory within policy and professional contexts. Claire leads the Accelerating Social Change theme at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and is Senior Lecturer in Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure at the University of Manchester. Her work focuses on sustainable consumption, environmental policy, and social practices, particularly in relation to water, mobility, and diet. We are very much looking forward to the discussions her visit will stimulate across ENP and the wider WUR community. #SocialPracticeTheory #SustainabilityTransitions #EnvironmentalGovernance #SustainableConsumption #CircularSociety #TransdisciplinaryResearch #WUR #WageningenUniversity #ClimateAction

In memoriam: Kris van Koppen After a short illness, our colleague Kris van Koppen passed away peacefully on Tuesday 28 April 2026. His loss is hard to grasp; he left us too early and too fast. Kris leaves an immense void among his many his family and friends, and his colleagues and students both in Wageningen and around the world. Kris had a distinguished 35-year career at Wageningen University. His research combined and deep interest in nature, philosophy, sociology and their interdisciplinary application to environmental studies. He also transcended the academy to contribute to public debates, and contribute to advisory boards for local government and nature organisations in the Netherlands. He was fascinated by how the everyday values people assign to their surrounding nature can be combined with biodiversity science to support conservation. Kris was also a passionate educator  - not only to students, but also colleagues.  For Kris, education was about intellectual growth that enables understanding and to overcome societal challenges. With endless patience and an unwavering good spirit, he trained and shaped countless cohorts of students until his very last day with us at Wageningen. Our research group last saw Kris giving a lunch time lecture on the recently deceased German philosopher/sociologist Jürgen Habermas only days before falling ill. It will be lasting memory. He was both appreciative and critical, and above all, he shared his joy of knowledge. As he always wished for, Kris was an active and valued colleague to the very last – engaged not only in a profession but his calling. We have also lost a beautiful and dear person whose memory will live on for us through his academic work and his students. Kris always expressed gratitude for his time at Wageningen – it was, in his words, a joy. Kris, it was our joy too. 

Congratulations to ENP's Machiel Lamers on his inaugural lecture today as Personal Professor of Tourism and Environmental Change at Wageningen University & Research. His research reveals a fundamental paradox: we travel to experience untouched nature, while our presence reshapes it. By studying tourism as a global system of movements - people, ships, emissions and rules - Machiel shows why governing tourism is more complex, and more urgent, than ever. From Antarctica to coral reefs, his work raises a crucial question: who takes responsibility for protecting the places we value most? 🎥 In this short video, Machiel shares how one moment between tourists and penguins sparked a much broader research agenda on tourism and environmental change. Join the lecture today, Friday, 24th April at 16:00 in Omnia (also available online here: https://wur.yuja.nl/) #governance #sustainability #tourism #nature #environmentalchange

🎓Congratulations to Dr. Sake Kruk on successfully defending their PhD last week! It was a special day, shared with friends, family and colleagues - a meaningful moment to celebrate the completion of this journey! In his thesis, “Digitalising Sustainability in Aquaculture Governance: Implications for Smallholder Inclusion”, Sake explores the increasing digitalisation of aquaculture governance and what this means for smallholders. His research shows how digital technologies reshape connections between actors, influence smallholder participation, and transform decision-making practices and processes. You can read the full thesis here: https://lnkd.in/eQu-uqQx We are very grateful to Sake for his manifold contributions to both the research and social life of the Environmental Policy Group! We wish him the very best in the next steps of your career! Congratulations again, Dr. Sake Kruk! #phdlife #phddefence #acquaculture #sustainabilitygovernance #digitalisation

Although its April 1, its not a joke. I'm promoted to associate professor. 🤓 Environmental Policy Group @WUR

It was an honor to deliver one of the keynote speeches at the 108th birthday of Wageningen University & Research at its celebratory ‘Dies Natalis’. We spoke about the ‘past, present and future’ of ‘Wageningen in the World’ and the role that universities can and must play in ensuring a more sustainable and just world for all. In my talk, I addressed how Wageningen University can be a leader in ‘leaving no one behind’ and realizing ‘sustainability for all’. These are ambitious aspirations, but they are ever more vital in these troubled times. And our university has many strengths that it can and does leverage to move the needle forward in realizing such goals. We are an institution with a unique focus on sustainability, with global reach. We also prioritize interdisciplinarity, which is vital to evaluating sustainability innovations and solutions in their diverse, unequal, and often contested political and social contexts. I look forward to continuing to work together with a wonderfully inspiring and dedicated group of Wageningen researchers in these endeavors. I was delighted to share the stage with two other keynote speakers, Larissa Schulte Nordholt and Bert Bruins. A description and video of the ceremony is here: https://lnkd.in/etUt6agQ Wageningen University & Research Environmental Policy Group @WUR Wageningen Social Sciences Vincent Koperdraat Channah Durlacher Kristel Klein Eugenia León Earth System Governance Project

It was an honor to deliver one of the keynote speeches at the 108th birthday of Wageningen University & Research at its celebratory ‘Dies Natalis’. We spoke about the ‘past, present and future’ of ‘Wageningen in the World’ and the role that universities can and must play in ensuring a more sustainable and just world for all. In my talk, I addressed how Wageningen University can be a leader in ‘leaving no one behind’ and realizing ‘sustainability for all’. These are ambitious aspirations, but they are ever more vital in these troubled times. And our university has many strengths that it can and does leverage to move the needle forward in realizing such goals. We are an institution with a unique focus on sustainability, with global reach. We also prioritize interdisciplinarity, which is vital to evaluating sustainability innovations and solutions in their diverse, unequal, and often contested political and social contexts. I look forward to continuing to work together with a wonderfully inspiring and dedicated group of Wageningen researchers in these endeavors. I was delighted to share the stage with two other keynote speakers, Larissa Schulte Nordholt and Bert Bruins. A description and video of the ceremony is here: https://lnkd.in/etUt6agQ Wageningen University & Research Environmental Policy Group @WUR Wageningen Social Sciences Vincent Koperdraat Channah Durlacher Kristel Klein Eugenia León Earth System Governance Project

Next week 3 march InScience Film Festival kicks off with the opening Ho deep is your love. An absoluut recommendation for all my Environmental Policy Group @WUR Public Administration and Policy Group @WUR in general. Of course in LUX Nijmegen but if my Wageningen friends won’t be able to make it to Nijmegen; InScience will also visit Wageningen in Visum Mundi later. https://lnkd.in/ea-xBtZ4