I am fascinated by unraveling water-scarcity patterns. I am an expert in Integrated Assessment Modelling and Water Footprint Assessment. The concepts and tools that I have developed and applied all aim at availing knowledge at scales relevant to decision-makers in the water sector. During my PhD at the University of Twente I evaluated how spatiotemporal patterns of water availability relate to patterns of water use for a river basin in the semi-arid Northeast of Brazil. I have used agent-based modelling and developed the downstreamness concept to analyze the emergence of basin closure. This concept is helpful to water managers for identifying priority locations for intervention inside a river basin system. As a postdoc I continued to evaluate the relation between water use and availability and further broadened my scope to a wider range of related topics.

I study human dimensions of natural resource management and resource use by under-represented populations—often in developing nations—to enhance our understanding of conflicts involving land use, natural resources, and conservation from an interdisciplinary, systematic lens. My research spans subjects such as common pool resource management and policy, decentralization, and land use/land cover change drivers and trends relating to population rise and environmental change.

I’m modelling LandUse and Cover Changes, Biodiversity impact and Biological corridors for Surrogate Species shared by US and Mexico.

Biólogical metaphor

Enhancing Athena visualizations and internals, see https://github.com/AthenaModel.

Agent-based computing in economics and finance
Large-scale agent-based models
Agent models calibrated by micro-data
Complex adaptive systems
Mathematical analysis of agent systems

Currently doing a program evaluation of a GIZ reforestation project in the north of Mato Grosso state, Brazil (transition area from savannah to Amazon forest). Adoption of Agroforestry Systems by lower income farmers was the goal.