The project — BIONEXT

What is BIONEXT?

BIONEXT is a research and innovation project that joins the fight for nature and biodiversity. The project produces new evidence to better understand biodiversity loss and demonstrates how biodiversity underpins every aspect of life; the water we drink, the food we eat, and our health. To secure and protect these values, the project demands transformative change: BIONEXT’s goal is a sustainable society, where links between biodiversity, water, food, energy, transport, climate, and health are acknowledged and nature and biodiversity are a part of everyday choices and policymaking.

BIONEXT creates and offers science-based solutions and tools for reversing biodiversity loss and achieving regenerative, nature-centered futures and societies. The project creates new knowledge and science-based solutions for sustainable futures, for example, for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), EU policymakers, and civil society.

BIONEXT brings together science and scientists from different fields and creates a network of scientists who are ambitious to create practical and effective solutions for halting biodiversity loss.

BIONEXT is funded by the EU’s research and innovation program Horizon Europe and by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee 10039588. The project is coordinated by the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke). The project is executed in four years (2022–2026) and the consortium has ten partners from eight European countries. The project received funding of 4,1 million euros.

What are we doing and how?

Knowledge and tools on the biodiversity nexus
BIONEXT aims to improve knowledge and tools on the interlinkages (nexus) between biodiversity, water, food, energy, transport and health in the context of climate change in the short, medium and long term.
The work on the biodiversity nexus produces four main key outputs:
1. A review of past and present interlinkages of the biodiversity nexus;
2. Exploratory future scenarios of indirect and direct drivers of biodiversity loss;
3. Visions of positive futures for biodiversity and people co-created with multiple stakeholders;
4. Innovate integrated models of the biodiversity nexus to project future outcomes for biodiversity, water, food, energy, transport and health under the exploratory scenarios (including climate change) and nature-positive visions.
The outputs will be useful for a wide range of actors, including science-policy platforms, academia and research institutes, decision-makers and policymakers, national agencies, and civil society organizations and stakeholders.
All the outputs will be published in journal papers and made available with open access on the BIONEXT website in 2024. The scenarios, visions and modelling outputs may also be synthesised in the Pathways App.
Understanding transformative change in the biodiversity nexus
BIONEXT grows the understanding of what transformative change means in the biodiversity nexus context. The project creates pathways for transformative change and strengthening justice within transformative change for biodiversity.
The work on transformative change produces five main key outputs:
1. Insight on how to engage with transformative change and the biodiversity nexus
2. Pathways incorporating transformative change to achieve visions of positive futures for nature and people
3. Showcase examples of transformative change
4. A review of justice in transformative change
5. Methodological guidelines for transformative change
The insight on how to engage with transformative change and methodological guidelines are mainly targeted at the academic community (science-policy and research). The broader audience of decision-makers and other stakeholders might be interested especially in the identified pathways and showcase examples of transformative change.
The work on transformative change can mainly be followed by following BIONEXT’s published reports and papers.
Case studies indicating transformative change
BIONEXT analyses real-world nexus projects, obtains case studies from open-source data, highlights the success and failure factors of these case studies, identifies key transformative archetypes, and develops the BIONEXT pathways app for user-friendly exploration and comparison of these archetypes.
The work on case studies produces three main key outputs:
1. Identifying key archetypes of transformative processes through analysing existing real-world nexus-related projects and initiatives from across societal and cultural contexts. Specifically, the creation of case studies from open-source knowledge repositories.
2. Prioritisation of archetypes of these transformative processes, noting critical factors of both success and failure.
3. An innovative, user-oriented online tool (BIONEXT pathways app) for exploring and comparing the transformative archetypes of the nexus case studies.
The outputs from case studies are predominantly for science-policy-based decision-makers and policymakers.
The outputs of the case study work will be accessible through a user-orientated online tool called the BIONEXT pathways app. This tool is in development and will be accessible towards the end of the project and will ensure the legacy of the BIONEXT project. Users of the Pathways app will be able to discover which building blocks determine the success of a case study or biodiversity project: such as shared governance or the addressing of social issues.
Knowledge for IPBES assessments and EU policy
The BIONEXT project delivers evidence and information into the IPBES rolling programme of work up to 2030. We also assess the implications of the BIONEXT project outcomes for the delivery of European Union environmental policies.
The work on the IPBES rolling programme and EU policy produces five main key outputs:
1. Briefs, reports, databases, case studies and papers collated within BIONEXT that can feed into IPBES assessments
2. A bibliographic database of relevant scientific and grey literature that matches the emerging outlines and content of IPBES assessments
3. A critical evaluation of EU policy given the BIONEXT project outcomes, highlighting areas of weakness and strengths in current policy implementation across the biodiversity nexus
4. Co-created guidance and policy options/recommendations to facilitate transformative change towards improved conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services, as well as options for the integration and mainstreaming of biodiversity across policy sectors
5. A web-based BIONEXT Reference Book compiling short descriptions to facilitate a common understanding of the concepts and terminology that underpins the biodiversity nexus in transformative change
The outputs are mainly targeted at IPBES (including the task forces for scenarios and models, and for policy support), EU and national decision-makers engaged in environmental policy and management and Civil society, indirectly through stakeholders and dissemination platforms.
The information will be available publicly through the BIONEXT website. The output date for the IPBES inputs is May 2025 and policy recommendations is July 2026.
Networking and communication
BIONEXT also establishes an interdisciplinary Network of Scientists and a Network of Knowledge. Through the communication and dissemination work, the project makes sure that all the results from the project are available for anyone interested.
You can follow BIONEXT’s communication activities on our website and social media (LinkedIn, X)
1. Advance understanding of actionable transformative change: transdisciplinary research approaches are being used to enhance understanding of transformative change in a way that enables action. The research is done by operationalizing signposts for achieving just transformative and exploring concrete options for transformative change. The options will build on policy, market, and social innovations.
2. Collect and analyze empirical evidence from over 500 real-world biodiversity-related cases: the analysis enables the identification of the drivers of transformative processes and the factors that are critical for societal change to success or fail.
3. Co-create multiple desirable, nature-positive visions for Europe: the visions encompass a range of value perspectives and different societal and cultural contexts.
4. Co-create and test multiple, just transition pathways: the pathways consist of transformative actions that aim to achieve nature-positive visions (third target) and to move towards sustainable development goals. The pathways’ scaling potential is also examined in light of justice dynamics in the biodiversity nexus.
5. Develop an innovative nexus modelling framework: the framework captures and simulates the interlinkages between biodiversity, climate change, food, water, energy, transport, and health. It also simulates how effective transformative actions are in relieving trade-offs or strengthening synergies.
6. Co-develop practical guidance in the format of the BIONEXT Pathways app: the app brings together outputs that allow policy-makers and other stakeholders to explore and harness a wide range of practical building blocks that can create just transition pathways. The building blocks are suitable for different structural, ecological, social, economic, and regional contexts.
7. Share the findings of BIONEXT and contribute to science brokerage, capacity building, and networking, promote state-the-art research and policy support on transformative change: this includes mainstreaming biodiversity into EU-policymaking and governance.
BIONEXT identifies and creates solutions for stopping biodiversity loss and achieving a sustainable, nature-positive future. The project creates research- and innovation-based tools such as the nexus modelling framework, database of transformative change cases, Pathways app, and guidance and policy recommendations that help to stop biodiversity loss and create the change we need.
BIONEXT nexus modelling framework
BIONEXT is developing an innovative nexus modelling framework that captures and simulates the interlinkages between biodiversity, climate change, food, water, energy, transport, and health. The framework aims to provide an improved quantification of impacts, risks, and vulnerabilities, as well as cross-sectoral benefits, synergies, and trade-offs, under a wide range of direct (e.g. climate change, land use change) and indirect (e.g. socio-cultural, demographic, technological, economic, governance) drivers.
As a base for the framework, BIONEXT is building on three existing modelling approaches: a regional integrated model, an agent-based model, and a systems dynamic model. BIONEXT’s innovation is to integrate the three model components to reflect interlinkages relevant to the biodiversity nexus and for simulating transformative change to sustainable, nature-positive futures.
Database of transformative change cases
BIONEXT develops an innovative aggregated database of transformative change cases that are relevant to the European biodiversity nexus. The database is built based on filtering and critical evaluation of cases from existing knowledge repositories and filling in data gaps on the individual cases. The database is designed to be updated based on automatized queries of the existing repositories.
The database will, later on, be iteratively validated in co-production with stakeholders to identify archetypal building blocks of transition pathways.
BIONEXT Pathways app
BIONEXT develops a new and ground-breaking decision support tool in the form of a software application. The Pathways app allows diverse users to explore transformational building blocks. The building blocks can then be used to formulate policies, strategies, and implementation pathways.
The app is co-developed, calibrated, and validated through the process of stakeholder engagement.
BIONEXT uses a transdisciplinary methodology that brings together existing, but fragmented, knowledge but with new empirical advances. The methodology is based on an iterative process that utilizes stakeholder engagement.
The methodology is designed to create an understanding of the role of transformative change in biodiversity policymaking whilst taking account of interlinkages between biodiversity, water, food, energy, transport, climate, and health.
The overall approach is based on eight methodological principles:
1. Addressing the complex nature of sustainability through co-production: we utilize an in-depth and systematic stakeholder engagement process at the science-policy-society interface. The stakeholder engagement is meant to co-produce impactful outcomes that are relevant to policy and to co-evaluate knowledge integration.
2. Iterating between theory and practice for actionable and just insights: we develop a conceptual framework to ground theoretical insights on justice and transformative change in empirical contexts. The framework is also meant to operationalize just transformative change in ‘signposts’ that are visible in the present.
3. Combining exploratory and target-seeking scenarios for a comprehensive futures analysis: we integrate nature-positive shared visions with long-term exploratory scenarios of changes in climate and socio-economic conditions.
4. Understanding and modelling past, present, and future nexus interlinkages: We review and meta-analyse existing evidence on nexus interlinkages. We adapt a set of innovative European spatially explicit integrated models that incorporate nexus interlinkages between biodiversity, food, water, health, transport, and energy along with an improved representation of transformative change processes. The models will be applied to the climate and socio-economic scenarios and used to test the effectiveness of the just, transition pathways in achieving the nature-positive visions.
5. Adopting a socio-technical approach to understanding social-ecological change: we combine socio-technical and social-ecological theory and literature to further understand how social, cultural, institutional, and technological changes co-evolve with ecological changes. This identifies practical policy, market, and civil options for change and evaluates the factors that enable or constrain transformative change.
6. Co-creation and critical reflection for the design of just transition pathways: we build upon and advance existing theoretical insights and empirical evidence using a BIONEXT transition arena approach. Together with diverse key stakeholders at European and national levels, we co-create plural and plausible transition pathways towards just sustainability. These pathways will include a variety of options for change and exemplify their regional scaling potentials. The pathways also inform how they might address barriers and trade-offs while reflecting on justice and equity in the Nexus.
7. Demonstrating transformative change in practice: we build a coherent and user-friendly database of transformative change cases relevant to the European biodiversity-nexus context. The database is built of over 500 rigorously studied existing cases and through meta-analysis of wider existing case collections. The database is used to identify and prioritize archetypes of transformative processes, including critical factors of both success and failure.
8. Knowledge and science brokerage for IPBES assessments and EU policy: we synthesize across BIONEXT outcomes and leverage collaborations and networks, including IPBES bodies/experts and the European Commission. The syncretization is to provide guidance, policy support, and capacity building that helps facilitate transformative change in Europe.
Work package 1 – The biodiversity nexus: current and future interlinkages and their drivers
The term “nexus” demonstrates the interlinkages and interdependencies between different sectors or entities such as water, food, energy, health, climate, and transport. Work package 1 uses nexus approaches to analyze interconnections between these. Such approaches can help address sustainability challenges by facilitating and accelerating synergistic outcomes across multiple sectors, minimizing or balancing trade-offs, and avoiding potential unintended consequences of decisions.
First, work package 1 is reviewing past and present interlinkages of the biodiversity nexus. The review is used to consolidate and synthesize the large volume of existing, but fragmented evidence on interlinkages between biodiversity, water, food, energy, transport, health, and climate change. This review is targeting knowledge gaps important to the IPBEX nexus assessment.
Second, the work package works in partnership with European stakeholders to co-create exploratory future scenarios of causes for biodiversity loss. The stakeholder engagement is also used to co-create visions of positive futures for biodiversity and people.
Third, the work package is developing an innovative nexus modelling framework that captures and simulates the interlinkages between sectors and the factors that initiate transformative change to sustainable and nature-positive futures.
Lead: UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)
Work package 2 – Triggering transformative change
Transformative change is needed to address the major challenges to nature and humankind, such as biodiversity loss, climate change, and social injustice. Transformative changes are fundamental shifts in the way we think, act, and organize our society. A change is only transformative if it shakes up ecological, technological, and socio-economic systems. The need for transformative change is clear – in BIONEXT’s work package 2, we aim to find what that change is and how we can set it in motion.
First, work package 2 is creating a better understanding of justice and transformative change in the biodiversity nexus. It does this by exploring how it is understood by the diverse research communities connected to the biodiversity nexus.
Second, the work package is exploring tangible options to enable just transformative change across policy, the private sector, and civil society. This will result in a conceptual framework that we will use to identify practical options for change. The conceptual framework allows us to evaluate what enables or constrains positive systemic transformations across policy, the private sector, and civil society.
Third, engagement and co-creation are essential for making these insights from research actionable. Together with diverse, relevant stakeholders, WP2 is co-creating transition pathways for key biodiversity nexus interlinkages, developing policy lessons and action points to better acknowledge multidimensional aspects of justice in transformative change.
Lead: DRIFT
Work package 3 – Demonstrating transformative change in practice
Work package 3 identifies key archetypes of transformative processes. It does this by analyzing real-world nexus-related projects and initiatives from across societal and cultural contexts.
The work package creates a collection of a large number of existing cases from a diversity of open-source knowledge repositories. It builds a coherent database of transformative factors and processes in the collected cases and further enriches the analysis through direct consultation with case study leaders and beneficiaries. It identifies and prioritizes archetypes of these transformative processes; noting critical factors of both success and failure, taking account of case study narratives, business models, policies, and the role of citizen science.
Finally, the work package develops an innovative, user-oriented online tool – the BIONEXT Pathways app. The app is meant for exploring and comparing the transformative archetypes of the nexus case studies.
Lead: OPPLA
Work package 4 – Knowledge and science brokerage for IPBES assessments and EU policy
Work package 4 compiles and synthesizes knowledge for the two upcoming IPBES assessments on the nexus and transformative change and for the European Commission.
The work package delivers state-of-the-art science evidence and information into the IPBES rolling program of work up to 2030, specifically for the nexus and transformative change assessments. It assesses the implications for EU policy using the evidence gathered.
Lead: The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Work package 5 – Facilitating nexus by networking, engagement, and dissemination
Work package 5 coordinates the stakeholder engagements, facilitates and evaluates knowledge integration, and organizes all dissemination and communication activities. The work package e.g. establishes an interdisciplinary Network of Scientists and a Network of Knowledge and co-develops an interactive multi-criteria decision-support module for the Pathways app. The work package is also responsible for creating a communication, dissemination, and exploitation strategy.
Lead: Finnish Environment Institute Syke
Work package 6 – Project management
Work package 6 ensures coordination of the overall workflow, procedures for internal communication, and the interactions between the partners, steering group, and advisory board.
Lead: Finnish Environment Institute Syke

Who are we?

BIONEXT is a consortium of 10 partners led by the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE. The consortium gathers partners from eight European countries.
Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)
Finland
Finnish Environment Institute is a multidisciplinary research and expert service institute focused on delivering information, knowledge, and solutions to public and private decision-making on sustainability transformation. Finnish Environment Institute provides essential expertise in social sciences (environmental governance and policy, transition studies, and economics), and nature-based solutions, biodiversity, water, marine, food, health, urbanization, and transport.
Syke is a Finnish research institute governed by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Contact information
DRIFT
Netherlands
DRIFT is a world-leading institute for research, consultancy, and education on and for sustainability and justice transitions. DRIFT conducts interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research to better understand and facilitate new ways of thinking, doing, and organizing in contemporary societal transitions. Through its consultancy and educational activities, it also applies new methods in practice, provides academic and professional training, and engages in public debate.
DRIFT was established in 2004 at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, where they are currently operating as a social enterprise.
Contact information
Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences - CzechGlobe
Czech Republic
Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences - CzechGlobe provides expertise to identify building blocks of nexus-related transformative pathways.
It has expertise with transdisciplinary knowledge co-creation processes involving stakeholders in the co-design of scenarios and transformative pathways, transformational processes, and systemic leverage points.
Contact information

Athina-erevnitko kentro kainotomias stis technologies tis pliroforias, ton epikoinonion kai tis gnosis (ATHENA)
Greece
Multidisciplinarity is at the foundation of the research philosophy of Athena Research Center, which carries out R&D both at the level of information technology itself and at the level of specific applications. Computational sciences thus form a strong component of the Athena RC activities, including - but not limited to - computational linguistics, archaeology, engineering, medicine, biology, biodiversity, earth observation, space science, mechanics, and the arts.
The Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) operates under the Athena Research Center. SDU is founded and directed by Prof. Phoebe Koundouri. SDU engages in cutting-edge research to enable the transition to sustainability, through the implementation of the UN Agenda 2030 (17 SDGs), the Paris Agreement, and the European Green Deal. The Institute focuses on interdisciplinary systems research and the delivery of innovative solutions to issues related to the inter-dependencies between research and innovation, the economy, the society, the environment, policymaking, and politics, to transition to sustainable development.
SDU is part of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aeiphoria (AE4RIA), an initiative for collaboration between research institutions, innovation accelerators, and science-technology-policy interface networks, focused on sustainable development.
Contact Information

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Germany
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is one of eleven Universities of Excellence in Germany. KIT's Land Use Change & Climate Research Group seeks to understand how people use land and other natural resources, and the impacts of land management decisions on socio-ecological systems across the biodiversity nexus. We explore the interactions, synergies, and trade-offs between people and their environment across scales (from local to global) and aspire to find solutions for sustainable land system futures.
Contact information

Oppla
Netherlands
Oppla is the EU repository of Nature-based solutions. It provides a knowledge marketplace, where the latest thinking on natural capital ecosystem services and nature-based solutions is brought together.
Its purpose is to simplify how we share, obtain and create knowledge to better manage our environment.
Contact information

Foundation for Applied Information Technology in Environment, Agriculture, and Global Changes (TIAMASG)
Romania
Foundation for Applied Information Technology in Environment, Agriculture and Global Changes (TIAMASG) applies information technology in research related to the natural environment and global changes. It focuses on software development, modelling and software integration, spatial and web databases, and web platforms.
Contact information

University of Antwerp (UAntwerp)
Belgium
University of Antwerp (UAntwerp), The department of Family medicine and population health, together with the Department of Engineering Management brings a wide disciplinary and methodological expertise, in social and environmental health sciences. The Universiteit Antwerpen contribution to BIONEXT will be coordinated by the Chair Care and the Natural Environment.
Contact information

The UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC)
United Kingdom
The UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) is a global Centre of excellence on biodiversity. It ensures that science, knowledge, and insights shape global and national policy, builds capacity, and creates innovative solutions to environmental challenges.
Contact information

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)
United Kingdom
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) is an independent, not-for-profit research institute carrying out excellent environmental science with impact. UKCEH aims to understand the environment, how it sustains life, and the human impact on it – so that together, people and nature can prosper.
Research focuses on three major environmental and societal challenges: (1) creating and enhancing sustainable ecosystems; (2) reducing and preventing pollution; and (3) mitigating and building resilience to climate and environmental change. It undertakes world-leading long-term and large-scale monitoring, experimentation, and modelling that helps provide the data and insights to inform decision-making by governments, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and citizens. UKCEH is a strategic delivery partner for the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UK Research and Innovation.
Contact information
Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)
Finland
Anna-Stiina Heiskanen
Coordinator
Anna-Stiina Heiskanen is the coordinator of BIONEXT.
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Soile Oinonen
Co-coordinator
Soile Oinonen is the co-coordinator of BIONEXT. She is also involved in conducting a systematic review of the biodiversity nexus and developing a process for impactful policy briefs. At the Finnish environment institute, Soile is the group manager of the politics of knowledge group in the societal change unit.
Firstname.m.oinonen@syke.fi

Jari Koskiaho
Project manager
Jari Koskiaho works as a Senior Researcher at Finnish Environment Institute. In BIONEXT, he is responsible for project management duties (WP6).
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Leena Kopperoinen
Leader of work package 5
Leena Kopperoinen leads the work package 5.
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Heli Saarikoski
Co-leader of work package 2
Heli Saarikoski is the co-leader of work package 2.
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Aino Laine
Member of work package 5
Aino Laine is part of work package 5 where she has responsibilities concerning communication.
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Maija Airos
Member of work package 5
Maija Airos works as a communicator coordinator at Finnish Environment Institute. In BIONEXT, she is responsible for external communication.
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Kai Widell
Member of work package 5
Kai Widell is the visual designer of the project.
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Helena Valve
Member of work package 2
Helena is a Senior Research Scientist working in WP2. Her research on environmental governance draws from human geography, policy studies, and Science and Technology Studies (STS).
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Jyri Mustajoki
Member of work packages 1, 3 and 5
Jyri Mustajoki participates in work packages 1, 3, and 5.
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Henna Malinen
Member of work package 1
Henna is a researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute’s Urban Nature group in the Built Environment Solutions unit. In BIONEXT she is working on improving the knowledge base of interlinkages between biodiversity and transport in work package 1.
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Dalia D’Amato-Pihlman
Member of work package 2
Dalia is a Senior Research Scientist at the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke). In Bionext she is working on the scientific understanding of transformative change across the domains of biodiversity, water, food, energy, transport, climate, and health, as well as on the identification of pace-setting real-life policy, market, and social innovations for transformative change.
Dalia.damato-pihlman@syke.fi

Elise Järvenpää
Member of work package 5
Elise Järvenpää works as a Senior Coordinator at Finnish Environment Institute and will be participating in work package 5 where she has responsibilities related to stakeholder engagement processes.
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

Maria Söderholm
Member of work package 6
Maria is a project manager at the Finnish Environment Institute in the Information quality unit. In BIONEXT she supports the project in open science matters and the management of data and other outputs. Maria prepares and coordinates the writing of the data management plan.
Maria.soderholm@syke.fi

Satu Soini
Member of work package 6
Satu operates as the Financial Manager of the consortium.
Firstname.lastname@syke.fi

DRIFT
Netherlands
Aniek Hebinck
Leader of work package 2
Aniek is a Researcher at the Dutch Research Institute of Transitions. She has a background in critical foresight, transition thinking, and development sociology and holds a Ph.D. in Sustainability Science from the Stockholm Resilience Centre. In BIONEXT, Aniek leads the research on Triggering Transformative change in the biodiversity Nexus which tries to understand how transformations are framed across diverse communities, what triggers and hinders it, and how it links to justice.
Hebinck@drift.eur.nl

Mara de Pater (she/her)
Member of work package 2
As a researcher and advisor at the Dutch Research Institute of Transitions, Mara works on transitions and transformations in landscapes, nature, and biodiversity. With a foot in academics, a foot in practice, and her heart in activism she aims for impactful research for more just and sustainable societies. In BIONEXT, Mara contributes to the research for Work package 2.
Depater@drift.eur.nl

Amanda Krijgsman
Member of work package 2
Amanda is fascinated by nature’s role in solving societal problems. Her work focuses on complex spatial and societal issues that pursue sustainable goals for both people and nature. In this, she applies action-oriented research that brings together ecological, technical, political, and social perspectives. Within BIONEXT, she aims to translate the interlinkages within the biodiversity nexus into concrete options for transformative change.
Krijgsman@drift.eur.nl

Julia Wittmayer
Member of work package 2
Julia Wittmayer currently holds the position of Assistant Professor with the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) and works as a senior researcher and advisor at the Dutch Research Institute of Transitions. Her background is in Social and Cultural Anthropology, with a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from Erasmus University Rotterdam. In the BIONEXT project, she contributes to work package 2.
J.m.wittmayer@drift.eur.nl

Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences - CzechGlobe
Czech Republic
Zuzana Harmáčková
Co-leader of work package 3
Zuzana is the head of the Department of Social-Ecological Analysis at the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She works with stakeholders, experts, and policy-makers across geographic and cultural contexts (Africa, Central Asia, Europe) to co-develop scenarios of potential future development, and pathways to sustainable futures for people and nature. In BIONEXT, Zuzana coordinates the archetype analysis in WP3, identifying which factors contribute to synergic outcomes for the biodiversity nexus.
Harmackova.z@czechglobe.cz
Julia Leventon
Member of work package 3
Julia Leventon works with work package 3.
Leventon.j@czechglobe.cz

Simon Vaňo
Member of work packages 1 and 3
Simon Vaňo is a postdoctoral researcher at the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, doing research in the areas of socio-ecological systems, environmental planning, and policy. In BIONEXT, he is mostly involved in the WP3 (archetype analysis and the case study database).
Vano.s@czechglobe.cz

Athina-erevnitko kentro kainotomias stis technologies tis pliroforias, ton epikoinonion kai tis gnosis (ATHENA)
Greece
Chrysi Laspidou
Co-leader of work package 1
Chrysi is a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Thessaly and the Vice President of Collaboration at Water Europe. She is the Chair of the NexusNet COST Action and focuses on systems thinking. She quantifies interlinkages between different Nexus components and models’ interrelations. She uses system dynamics modeling to integrate outcomes from other thematic models that might be focusing on one of the Nexus components.
Laspidou@gmail.com

Konstantinos Ziliaskopoulos
Member of work package 1
Konstantinos is an Electrical Engineer specializing in data science and artificial intelligence. He is involved in Nexus modeling and focuses on biodiversity assessment, identifying hotspots and vulnerabilities through systems and data modeling.
Zilikons93@gmail.com

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Germany
Mark Rounsevell
Leader of work package 4
Mark is a Professor of Land Use Change at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Institute of Geography & Geoecology) and Head of IFU’s Land Use Change & Climate Research Group. He also holds the David Kinloch Michie Chair of Rural Economy & Environmental Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on the human dimensions of environmental change, including the analysis of socio-ecological systems, land use, land cover change and the impacts of climate change on natural resources. He applies a number of social simulation modelling approaches across spatial scales, and for future environmental change scenarios.
Mark.rounsevell@kit.edu

Elizabeth Díaz General
Member of work packages 1 and 4
Elizabeth contributes to the review, co-creation of scenarios, and modelling of the Biodiversity Nexus; and to scientific brokering for IPBES assessments and EU policy for transformative change. As a postdoc at KIT, she models quality of life from a human-nature viewpoint by using land-use models.
Elizabeth.general@kit.edu

Joanna Raymond
Member of work packages 1 and 4
Joanna is a postdoctoral researcher in the Land Use Change and Climate Research Group at KIT. In BIONEXT, she is using the agent-based model CRAFTY-Europe, to explore determinants of transformative change for nexus interlinkages, as well as undertaking an analysis of EU policies.
Joanna.raymond@kit.edu

Oppla
Netherlands
Paul Mahony
Leader of the work package 3
Paul Mahony is the leader of work package 3.
Paul@oppla.eu

James Atkinson
Member of work package 3
James has a background in communications and will be supporting the development of the BIONEXT website, BIONEXT newsletter, and the BIONEXT Pathways App.
James@oppla.eu
Natasha Jacob
Member of work package 3
Natasha is a Social Scientist and will be undertaking the collection of case studies for Archetype analysis as well as supporting communications, such as the BIONEXT website.
Natasha@oppla.eu

Foundation for Applied Information Technology in Environment, Agriculture, and Global Changes (TIAMASG)
Romania
Goerge Cojocaru
Member of work package 1
George Cojocaru is part of work package 1.
Gco@tiamasg.com

Cristina Savin
Member of work package 1
Cristina Savin is a member of work package 1.
Cristina@tiamasg.com

University of Antwerp (UAntwerp)
Belgium
Hans Keune
Co-leader of Work Package 5
Hans Keune is the co-leader of work package 5.
Hans.keune@uantwerpen.be

The UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC)
United Kingdom

Claire Brown
Co-leader of work package 4
Claire is a Principal Technical Specialist at UNEP-WCMC. She co-leads work package four and coordinates UNEP-WCMC’s input into the BIONEXT project.
Claire.Brown@unep-wcmc.org

Marina Venâncio
Member of work package 4
Marina is a programme officer at the Policy Team of UNEP-WCMC. She provides substantive input to the implementation of work package four and supports the coordination of UNEP-WCMC’s into the BIONEXT project.
Marina.Venancio@unep-wcmc.org

Katie Wilson
Member of work package 4
Katie is an associate programme officer at the Policy Team of UNEP-WCMC. She provides substantive input to the implementation of work package four.
Katie.Wilson@unep-wcmc.org

Ayesha Wijesekera
Member of work package 4
Ayesha is an associate programme officer at the Policy Team of UNEP-WCMC. She provides substantive input to the implementation of work package four.
Ayesha.Wijesekera@unep-wcmc.org
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)
United Kingdom
Paula Harrison
Leader of work package 1
Paula is the Principal Natural Capital Scientist and Professor of Land and Water Modelling at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. She has a background in scenario development and the coordination of integrated modelling platforms that simulate the effects of drivers on the interactions, synergies, and trade-offs between multiple sectors. In BIONEXT, she is leading the development of the scenarios and visions and coordinating the development of the nexus modelling framework.
Paulaharrison@ceh.ac.uk

Robert Dunford-Brown
Member of work package 1
Rob is a Senior Natural Capital Scientist at UKCEH. He has expertise in natural capital and ecosystem services. He also has experience working on cross-sector futures that consider a climatic and socio-economic change in tandem particularly using integrated assessment modelling platforms. He is supporting the work taking place in WP1.
Rdunford@ceh.ac.uk

Lindsay Maskell
Member of work package 1
Lindsay is a senior scientist in the Land Use group at UKCEH with expertise in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of national data on biodiversity, Natural Capital, and Ecosystem Services including understanding relationships with drivers of state and change. She has experience reviewing the literature on many topics and is working in WP1 on the review of past and present interlinkages between sectors.
Lcma@ceh.ac.uk

HyeJin Kim
Member of work package 1
HyeJin Kim is part of work package 1.
Hkim@ceh.ac.uk
BIONEXT has a high-level advisory board covering various perspectives and expertise related to the topics of the project.
The advisory board actively provides feedback on project activities, advises on possibilities to make interdisciplinary research, and expands stakeholder networks. The advisory board supports the transdisciplinary co-production approach and ensures the maximum impact of BIONEXT in Europe and elsewhere.

Members
Eliska Rolfova, Senior Officer in the Department of Species Protection and Implementation of International Commitments, Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic, Czech Republic.
eliska.rolfova@mzp.cz
Laura M. Pereira, Associate Professor, Global Change Institute, University of the Witwatersrand.
laura.pereira@wits.ac.za
Martin Lok, Executive Director and Management Board member of the Capitals Coalition and co-founder of Business for Nature, Netherlands.
martin.lok@capitalscoalition.org
BIONEXT is part of the Transformative Change cluster. BIONEXT’s sister projects are presented below.
BAMBOO
The tools available to policymakers, retailers and other stakeholders for assessing the impacts of land and sea trade on biodiversity are limited and incomplete. By focusing on non-food biomass, BAMBOO aims to develop a set of freely available models to quantify biodiversity impacts. To do so, it will use four indicators: species richness, mean species abundance, functional diversity and ecosystem services.
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BIOTraCes
BIOTraCes will develop knowledge, tools and novel approaches to enable transformative changes necessary for achieving a nature-positive society.
To achieve this goal, the project will engage stakeholder networks around transformative biodiversity innovations in high-impact sectors – from agriculture and food to forestry, water and urbanisation.
9 transformative case studies in agriculture & food, forestry, water, and urbanisation.
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BIOTRAILS
BIOTRAILS aims to generate knowledge and tools that will inspire and accelerate biodiversity relevant transformative change by: Building the understanding of the complex interrelations in the Climate-Biodiversity-Society nexus and between indirect drivers of changes; Co-designing interventions in policy, urban consumption, and corporate policies, for activating alternative pathways toward a just and sustainable future.
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BioValue
BioValue focuses on the biodiversity loss due to land use and land cover changes. and intends to contribute to invert this trend and explore the transformative potential of spatial policy and planning.
To do so, researchers will articulate spatial planning and management instruments with environmental assessment and financing instruments.
The project will also considering the key steps of the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, minimise and offset) to stimulate the transformative potential of spatial planning through multi-level and multi-sectoral policies and strategies.
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CLEVER
CLEVER will identify new leverage points for sustainable transformation. Applying a novel holistic approach, the project will quantify biodiversity and other impacts of trade in major raw and processed non-food biomass value chains.
At the system level, CLEVER will improve our understanding of leakage effects in the non-food biomass trade system.
At the value chain level, it will engage with producers, traders, retailers, civil society, and policymakers to identify leverage points for transformative change at corporate and institutional levels.
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PLANET4B
To understand behaviours and motivations around biodiversity prioritisation.
Existing multidisciplinary behaviour theories (e.g. framing, nudging, leverage points) could be applied for biodiversity decision-making will be explored.
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RAINFOREST
Contribute to enabling, upscaling and accelerating transformative change to reduce biodiversity impact of food and biomass value chains. The EU-funded RAINFOREST project will use a combination of integrated assessment modelling, input-output modelling and life cycle assessment, based on case studies addressing the nexus of agricultural production, processing and transport, retail, as well as consumer preferences and diets.
SUSTAIN
SUSTAIN (Strengthening Understanding and Strategies of business To Assess and Integrate Nature) brings together a multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary team to strengthen understanding and awareness of how all economic activities depend and impact on biodiversity.
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TC4BE
TC4BE supports transdisciplinary research on telecoupled agrofood systems, engaging diverse stakeholders, including EU and producer country policy-makers, Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
Scenarios and modelling of EU agrofood systems transformations will be complemented by analysis of EU governance, trade, legal, consumer, collective action and sustainable finance levers and social innovations.
TRANSPATH
TRANSPATH identifies leverage points and interventions for triggering transformative changes at consumer, producer and organisational levels. It seeks whole-of-society opportunities for achieving climate-neutrality whilst simultaneously allowing local communities and nature to flourish.
Policy packages and other interventions are designed, to enable the emergence of leverage points at different scales of action. These interventions consider the synergies and trade-offs of actions across multiple people and places, and the role of incentives and political barriers to implementation.
Diverse contexts in Eastern and Western Europe, Africa and Latin America, to engage with those who affect and are affected by trade regimes and associated ‘greening’ mechanisms.
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BIONEXT glossary

Biodiversity loss

Biodiversity loss is when the reduction of any aspect of biological diversity (i.e., diversity at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels) is lost in a particular area through death (including extinction), destruction or manual removal; it can refer to many scales, from global extinctions to population extinctions, resulting in decreased total diversity at the same scale (source: IPBES).

Biodiversity nexus

BIONEXT’s research operates within the biodiversity nexus.

The biodiversity nexus demonstrates the diverse, intertwined relationships between people and nature. It shows how our resource use affects nature and biodiversity and vice versa.

Uncovering the interlinkages and interdependencies between the elements of biodiversity, water, food, energy, health, climate, and transport is crucial to better understanding the biodiversity nexus. By understanding the biodiversity nexus, we can make better decisions on how we manage and interact with nature and biodiversity.

Transformative change

BIONEXT demands transformative change.

Transformative change is needed to address the major challenges to nature and humankind, such as biodiversity loss, climate change, and social injustices. Transformative change means that we move beyond just fixing problems and instead fundamentally shift how we interact with the natural world. Generating such fundamental shifts in our mindsets, policies, and practices demands action from all, from citizens to policymakers.

A change is only transformative if it shakes up ecological, technological, and socio-economic systems.