dr. W (Willem-Jan) van Zeist

dr. W (Willem-Jan) van Zeist

WR Onderzoeker

My work at WEcR focusses on global scenario analysis with the MAGNET model and exploring linkages with various other models employed at Wageningen.

Before starting at WEcR (september 1st 2020) I worked for four years at the Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving, where I was part of the IMAGE team. Within the IMAGE framework (and integrated assessment model), I worked on the land use component of the model focusing on, amongst others, biodiversity protection and it's relation to food security, as well as agricultural productitivity. For this we employed the MAGNET model for the agro-economic assessments, the results of which were input for the biophysical, gridded IMAGE-land module. I spent quite some time trying to understand and improve the linkages between these models.

Before PBL, I worked at Blonk Consultants for over 5 years, with a main focus of life cycle assessment (LCAs) in the agri-food sector, as well as helping companies in their environmental/sustainability reporting. And finally, before that I finished my PhD in theoretical chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit in 2011, employing quantum mechanical modelling to improve our understanding of basic catalytic processes of transition metals and the activation of organic bonds.