Associate Professor Marjan van den Belt

Marjan van den Belt is Principal Ecological Economist, and Director at the New Zealand Centre for Ecological Economics. She leads the "Sustainable Pathways 2" FRST-funded research programme.

Prior to her arrival in Palmerston North in early 2009, Marjan was an independent consultant with Mediated Modeling Partners, LLC in Vermont, USA (www.mediated-modeling.com) where she led, among other projects, the Participatory Energy Planning project for the Vermont Department of Public Service (http://publicservice.vermont.gov/planning/mediatedmodeling.html).

She authored “Mediated Modeling: a System Dynamics Approach to Environmental Consensus Building”, published by Island Press in 2004. She also lectured at the University of Vermont on ‘systems thinking and decision models’ and ‘ecosystem services’, volunteered as executive director at Earth Inc (www.earthinc.org) and was a partner in the development of an eco-housing/eco-village (www.champlaincohousing.org).

Native to the Netherlands, Marjan has a Masters in Business Economics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. In 2000, Marjan received a Ph.D. in Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences and a Certificate in Ecological Economics from the University of Maryland, USA. She co-founded the consultancy firm Ecological Economics Research & Applications Inc.
Marjan’s prior work experience includes a period in Stockholm where she started Waste Reduction Int’l and consulted with industry on waste and energy audits as well as the development of Environmental Management Systems; and as a Staff Environmental Economist in the Research Department of Sweden’s largest energy generator and distributor, Vattenfall, AB.

Marjan has a passion for understanding complex challenges from a trans-disciplinary perspective, in a way that fosters sustainable solutions. She has a particular interest in quantitative, participatory approaches and collaborative/adaptive management in the context of an evolving ecosystem service (valuation) paradigm at multiple scales. She uses model building as a mediation tool to support multi-stakeholder partnerships in addressing complex, systemic challenges.

Marjan's experience in mediated modelling and research related to watershed and coastal zone management, land use issues, aquatic impacts of UV-b radiation, climate change, waste management and energy planning will be of great benefit to NZCEE.

Further information about Marjan can be found on p.9 of our NZCEE News

Download full CV

See Marjan's Publications here.

Marjan's paper, recently presented at the System Dynamics Society annual conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, July 2009 can be found here.
Please feel free to read her thought-provoking reflections on the conference overall.

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