Gerlinde van Vilsteren studied Food Science and Technology at Wageningen University before she started as researcher at ATO-DLO, the predecessor of W-FBR (Food and Biobased Research). Her work focussed on biobased plastics from proteins and controlled release applications in food and non food. The focus on research shifted to management and strategy. In 2000 she started to work in research policy and strategy at the head office of WUR, focussing on contract research. In 2010 she became director of the Green Knowledge Cooperative, where organisations in vocational, professional and academic education in the green domain work together on innovation and knowledge transfer. In 2014 she became the director of the Centre of Biobased Economy in order to boost education for the biobased economy.
She is currently working as team leader Knowledge for Society within Corporate Value Creation. CVC helps researchers to use their knowledge to create societal value. In other words, how do we ensure that the knowledge from a report is actually used in practice. This can be done in many ways and CVC is happy to help.