Prof.dr.ir. van Bodegom is professor Environmental Biology and professor Circular International Horticulture Systems within the Institute of Environmental Sciences. He investigates biodiversity and ecosystem patterns to support transitions to a sustainable society.

More information about Peter van Bodegom

Professional experience

Prof. van Bodegom is professor Environmental Biology and professor Circular International Horticulture Systems at the Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University. He investigates the mutual dependencies between nature and society. He addresses urgent challenges in understanding the impacts of human influences on nature and biodiversity and the needs of society for nature through natural capital and ecosystem services. By developing state-of-the-art tools from molecular ecology (for environmental DNA), remote sensing (in data assimilation systems) and data science (for global databases and analyses, e.g. on traits-based approaches or functional diversity patterns), nature and biodiversity patterns are assessed at unprecedented accuracy and resolution. In inter- and transdisciplinary national and international teams, he contributes to sustainable solutions towards creating a resilient livelihood. His focus therein is on quantifying the natural mechanisms involved, the connections to society and their trade-offs and synergies at spatiotemporal scales. Through his work, he stimulates creating new visions on our landscape, advising provinces, water boards, national governments and European organisations.

Peter has always enjoyed working at the interface of scientific fields. He graduated in soil science at Wageningen University in 1995. In 2000, he received his PhD, at Wageningen University, working at the interface of microbiology and plant ecophysiology modelling (cum laude; top 3%). He subsequently worked as postdoc, tenure tracker, assistant and associate professor at the department of Systems Ecology of the VU University Amsterdam, connecting ecology to climate and global change modelling. In 2015, he moved to Leiden University to fulfil the current position. Peter published more than 200 peer-reviewed papers including publications in leading journals like Nature, PNAS, Nature Ecology Evolution and Ecology Letters and has been key note speaker on various conferences.

Former ISI peer-reviewed publications

For an overview of the publications of Peter before he worked at CML, please follow  this link. 

Activities