Over the years I have worked on a large variety of research topics, focussing mainly on ecological aspects of tropical forest management with the aim of designing best management practices based on evidence-based, sound, ecological knowledge. I have used a variety of theoretical concepts (e.g., functional approach) and tools (e.g., large-scale experiments); have worked at several temporal, spatial and organizational scales; and have actively worked with researchers from different disciplines (e.g., social scientists), as forest management requires per definition an interdisciplinary approach.

I have three main research lines:

1) management of forest resources and sustainable harvesting levels,

2) forest recovery after (natural and anthropogenic) disturbances, which is crucial to understand forest resilience to (global) change,

3) forests in multifunctional landscapes, and the effects of land use change on the provision of ecosystem services.

Below a list of some of the projects in which I am participating:

The EU-funded ROBIN project aims to provide a better understanding of the role of biodiversity in climate change mitigation. The network involves over 100 researchers from 12 organizations (6 European and 6 Latin-American organizations). http://robinproject.info/home/

The Tropical Managed Forest Observatory network (TmFO, www.tmfo.org) is a network of permanent sample plots established in managed forests around the tropics. In this network we look at the recovery rates of timber, carbon stocks and tree diversity along gradients of logging intensity and environmental conditions.

 I teach in the "Bos- en Naturbeheer" BSc program and in the Forest and Nature Conservation MSc program.

I have also (co) organized several courses/workshops/discussions groups for PhD candidates. For example, I organized and facilitated three international workshops of the Terra Preta Program (2011, 2012, 2013). The workshops were designed in such a way that PhD candidates received as much feedback as possible from participants (supervisors and resource people) on their proposals and their research progress.