JL (Jeanne) Nel PhD

Dr Jeanne Nel heads the Biodiverse Environment Programme at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, and holds a Research Associate position in South Africa at the Nelson Mandela University. Her research focusses on land and water ecosystems, and the linkages to global change and social development. Dr Nel trained as an ecologist and conservation scientist, and as her career has progressed her work has shifted to a more inter- and transdisciplinary domain. She now works to embed theoretical and technical research into processes that stimulate learning and collective actions towards just and sustainable futures. Dr Nel coordinates and facilitates projects and programmes that work with a wide range of disciplinary scientists, policy makers and practitioners to interrogate alternative options to achieving transformative change. Her work leverages sustainability and transdisciplinary theory in applications such as conservation and development planning, water resource management, natural capital accounting, ecosystem-based management, climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Together with her collaborators this work has received substantial uptake in local and national policy and practice. Dr Nel has published this work in over 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals, several book chapters, and many technical reports which you can find on https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LWAZB2kAAAAJ&hl=en.