Machiel is a social scientist with an interest in the usability and impact of environmental information systems in the Polar Regions, building on the experience he gained as one of the co-chairs of the Societal and Economic Research and Applications (SERA) task team of the WMO’s Polar Prediction Project (PPP), which concluded in 2022.

Machiel holds a MSc and a PhD in sociology and Antarctic tourism from the Maastricht University in the Netherlands. As an Associate Professor at the Environmental Policy Group of Wageningen University & Research he lectures and leads research projects in governing sustainable tourism, marine conservation and environmental information in the Arctic and Antarctic region. He was the LPI of the SALIENSEAS project, one of the YOPP-endorsed projects with a strong contribution to the co-production of actionable and impactful sea-ice forecasts in the European Arctic. He currently leads the ANTARC-SHIP project, developing policy approaches for sustainable Antarctic tourism.

Research interests:
Environmental governance│polar tourism│marine conservation │ information systems