prof.dr. E. Turnhout (Esther)

Prof. dr. Esther Turnhout is chair of Science, Technology and Society at the Section of Knowledge, Transformation & Society (KiTeS), University of Twente, The Netherlands. She is an interdisciplinary social scientist with expertise in science and technology studies, environmental studies, and political science. Her research and teaching concerns the interactions between science, diverse knowledge systems, policy, and society with a specific focus on issues of nature, biodiveristy, and sustainability. She is commited to exploring and improving the contribution of science, education, and knowledge to needed transformations in policy, society and economy for human and non-human wellbeing en flourishing. She has published numerous articles on the biodiversity science-policy interface and other topics in high impact journals and she is also the first author of the book Environmental Expertise: Connecting Science, Policy and Society’ with Cambridge University Press. She plays several active roles in the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and was an author of the IPBES Global Assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services and the IPBES Transformative Change assessment. 

NEWS

The following news items appeared after the launch of the IPBES Transformative Change asessment 18 December 2024:

147 landen zijn het erover eens: herstel van de natuur is oplossing voor zeker vijf wereldwijde problemen. Trouw, 18 December 2024

IPBES Namibië met Esther Turnhout, Interview Vroege Vogels, 15 December (start: 01.19.35)

Huidige vorm van natuurbescherming is ontoereikend. NRC, 18 December

Natuurbescherming moet radicaal anders, stelt nieuw VN rapport. De Volkskrant, 19 December. 

The BioTraCes project has been featured at the International Architecture Bienale Rotterdam 2024 'The Nature of Hope' with a video installation in the main show and a presentation in the closing symposium

KEY PUBLICATIONS

Turnhout, E. (2024). A better knowledge is possible: transforming environmental science for justice and pluralism. Environmental Science & Policy, 155, 103729.

Turnhout, E. and Lynch C. (2024). Raising the carbonized forest: science and technologies of singularization. Environment and Planning F, https://doi.org/10.1177/26349825241255685

VIDEO

The future of biodiversity: transforming research and practice beyond conservation. Keynote lecture 52nd Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ) ‘The future of Biodiversity’, 12-16 September 2023, Leipzig, Germany. 

Expertise

• Social Sciences

  • Knowledge
  • Science
  • Policy
  • Process
  • Environmental Science
  • Justice
  • Science Policy
  • Materials

Organisations

Ancillary activities

• Endangered Landscapes ProgramMember of Oversight and Selection Panel of the Endangered Landscapes Program
• Wij.LandBoard member of Wij.Land
• NWODutch Science Foundation (NWO)
• European Reserach CouncilEuropean Research Council

I am interested in undertaking and supervising research into the political dimensions and consequences of science and technology in sustainability, climate change, environmental governance, and forest and biodiversity conservation. This research is done with a view to improving the legitimacy and accountability of science and technology, among others by transforming the way knowledge production is done and by including lay and Indigenous knowledge and facilitating participatory and deliberative processes of knowledge co-production. Conceptually and theoretically, my research draws on science & technology studies, policy analysis and political theory, and environmental humanities.

Publications

Other contributions

Recent key publications on transforming environmental science and governance

Lahsen, M., Turnhout, E., 2021. How norms, needs and power in science obstruct transformations to sustainability. Environmental Research Letters, 16, 025008. 

Pascual, U., Adams, W.M., Lele, S., Mace, G., Turnhout, E., 2021. Biodiversity and the challenge of pluralism. Nature Sustainablity, DOI: 10.1038/s41893-021-00694-7.

Turnhout, E., McElwee, P., Chiroleu‐Assouline, M., Clapp, J., Isenhour, C., Kelemen, E., Jackson, T., Miller, D.c., Rusch, G.M., Spangenberg, J.H., Waldron, A., 2021. Enabling transformative economic change in the post‐2020 biodiversity agenda. Conservation Letters, DOI: 10.1111/conl.12805.

Turnhout, E. Metze, T., Wyborn, C., Klenk, N., Louder, E., 2020. “The Politics of Co-Production: Participation, Power, and Transformation.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 42: 15–21.

Turnhout, E., Purvis, A., 2020. Biodiversity and species extinction: categorisation, calculation, and communication. Griffith Law Review, 29, 669-685.

Turnhout, E., Tuinstra, W. & Halffman, W. 2019. Environmental Expertise: Connecting Science, Policy and Society. Cambridge University Press. 

Research profiles

Courses academic year 2024/2025

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2023/2024

I frequently give interviews and am available for commentaries and interviews on topics such as:

Sustainability, biodiversity, forest and nature conservation

Relations between Science, Politics and Society

The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES)

In the press

147 landen zijn het erover eens: herstel van de natuur is oplossing voor zeker vijf wereldwijde problemen. Trouw, 18 December 2024

IPBES Namibië met Esther Turnhout, Interview Vroege Vogels, 15 December (start: 01.19.35)

Huidige vorm van natuurbescherming is ontoereikend. NRC, 18 December

Natuurbescherming moet radicaal anders, stelt nieuw VN rapport. De Volkskrant, 19 December. 

Address

University of Twente

Ravelijn (building no. 10), room 5141
Hallenweg 17
7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands

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Organisations