drs. MEHJ (Miriam) van Heist

I am a biologist with additional training in vegetation surveys and mapping.  For 10 years, I worked as a lecturer and consultant for mapping and GIS projects in Africa, mostly in relation to conservation areas. Working in Uganda, the human issues of forest conservation became more prominent to me and I was lucky to be around for the early steps in community involvement in resource management there.

When I followed my partner to Indonesia, I became further involved in participatory approaches to biodiversity and resource surveys, often in the context of land use planning. We worked with forest-dependent communities in remote parts of Kalimantan and Papua. Our approach was to ask their views on what was most important to them and help them communicate these to local governments.

After 10 years, we went back to Uganda and ran a small research station in Bwindi National Park. I was responsible for the institute’s administration and staff, helped evaluate research proposals and organised students’ fieldwork. I assisted the director with proposals and report writing to donors and also developed and maintained the institute’s website.

Since our move to the Netherlands in 2021, I first worked for a year as project assistant to the EU funded Pyrolife porject and since january 2022 as PhD programme coordinator with the Graduate School of PE&RC.