dr. PM (Marijn) Poortvliet

I'm a behavioral researcher working in the life science domain and interested in adoption of sustainable technologies and practices, primarily in the context of agricultural production.

I study this from an individual perspective. That is, I look at how people make decisions and are informed by their perceptions - most prominently risk perceptions.

A risk is the probability that an agent experiences some negative effect when this agent is exposed and vulnerable to the hazard. So, hazards typically do not create much interest in isolation but they become meaningful because they have effects on, and interact with, humans and societies. Therefore, in order to understand these phenomena it is key to get insights in not just the nature of hazards, but also the risk they may bring about. An important aspect in this regard is the interaction between hazards and the social context. One way of doing this is by studying the social and communicative aspects of life science problems because this helps in understanding how societies perceive and deal with risks, and because insights in these phenomena allows for designing communication interventions that can mitigate of control life science risks. For these reasons I study risk communication in life science contexts.

I supervise undergraduate and graduate students on projects related to risk communication and risk perception in the life science domain, and I teach courses related to these Risk Communication, Social Psychology, Food Hazards, and Insects as Food and Feed.