At the Institute of Development Policy (IOB), University of Antwerp, we contribute social science expertise on community well-being, governance and sustainable resource management. Our areas of expertise include citizen science and community-based monitoring; inclusive governance and participation in decision-making; equity and gender; livelihoods, adaptation and resilience; and monitoring and evaluation. Our experience includes community-based water monitoring in Tanzania, connecting local knowledge and citizen participation with accountability and public service delivery. We are interested in how communities experience and respond to ecosystem change, and how community-generated evidence can inform equitable environmental policies and practices.
Economics
Political sciences
Sociology of the Environment
We are interested in two opportunities for collaboration under the Biodiversa+ BiodivFuture call: • Joining a consortium already developing a proposal, contributing social science expertise to teams working on ecology, biodiversity or ecosystem management. • Working with additional partners to further develop our emerging proposal with colleagues in Tanzania and Kenya, exploring biodiversity conservation, ecological connectivity and community resilience in changing landscapes. We would also welcome partners who could contribute a relevant European comparative perspective. Across both opportunities, we can contribute to research on community participation, inclusive governance, livelihoods and resilience, and the equitable distribution of biodiversity benefits, costs and trade-offs. We are particularly interested in how local knowledge, citizen science and participatory monitoring can inform decisions about the management and future trajectories of novel ecosystems.