M (Maira) de Jong van Lier MSc

I am an environmental social scientist with an interdisciplinary background and an interest in land, food, and the social and political dynamics shaping agrifood systems. I hold a BSc in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam and an MSc in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University (cum laude). The latter includes a minor in environmental education and I have had the pleasure of contributing to teaching within several courses at the Environmental Policy Group. 
During my studies, my field experiences in Brazil and Mozambique strengthened my interest for issues of land struggle and environmental justice. I am currently pursuing a PhD at the Environmental Policy Group with a research project on the co-production of agroecological knowledge in Brazil and the implications for transformations to sustainable food systems. In this research I mainly engage with the fields of political ecology and science & technology studies to explore the politics of food systems transformations. More specifically, I study the roles and relationships between scientists, farmers, and agricultural advisors, among others, to investigate different perspectives on agroecology and how they enable or constrain deep transformations.