New HSO member: Marthe Derkzen

How can community greening reduce socioeconomic health disparities? This is the central question for my postdoc position in HSO’s PARTIGAN project. I will be working in and with the municipalities of Nijmegen and Arnhem to evaluate and improve participation processes around urban green infrastructure.
We can co-design our cities of the future as healthy environments that invite people to move, meet and learn. In the PARTIGAN project we investigate how a green neighborhood can encourage a healthy lifestyle – particularly among vulnerable citizens.

I have worked at several research institutes (Utrecht, Amsterdam, São Paulo, Bangalore, Tasmania) before making it to Wageningen. To be honest, I recall myself stating that “I would never go to that small-town rural university” and that "Wageningen is only fun on the 5^th of May”. But here we are, 15 years later, and I have come to appreciate the WUR for a variety of reasons, maybe most importantly for its applied and actionable character. It really stands out of the academic crowd. That is also why I am very happy to now be part of the Health & Society team as I believe that we work on real-world and vital societal issues while keeping those who are often overlooked at the center of our attention.

In my free time I tend to be much less serious and love to go
hiking, bike tripping, baking, concert hopping, cineville-ing and discovering
new hobbies: collecting mushrooms, picking olives, bouldering, teaching kids about sustainability and growing tiny forests.

Come find me in room 3068 – I’m still looking for a running buddy!