Floor van der Hilst appointed Professor of Sustainable Land Use

Portretfoto prof.dr. Floor van der Hilst

Floor van der Hilst has been appointed Professor of Sustainable Land Use at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development  of the Faculty of Geosciences as of 1 November 2025.

The central challenge addressed by this chair is how we can achieve sustainable land use and management in the face of intensifying and often competing demands. Land use plays a critical role in addressing the key sustainability challenges of our time, including climate change, food security, biodiversity loss, and land degradation. Professor Van der Hilst is particularly interested in the potential synergies and trade-offs between sustainability objectives. To address the complexity of sustainable land use, she adopts an integrated and interdisciplinary approach. Her research analyses the entire land system, the complex and diverse drivers of land-use change and their interrelated environmental and socio-economic impacts, linking local and global scales. She employs quantitative spatiotemporal modelling at different geographical scales, combining scenario-based approaches with optimization techniques. Van der Hilst aims to generate actionable insights by focusing on policy-relevant levels, connecting global trends to local realities, and engaging local stakeholders to inform sustainable and context-sensitive land-use strategies.

Land is at the heart of many of today’s global challenges: from climate change mitigation and adaptation to food security and bending the curve of biodiversity loss. To use land sustainably, we need to look at the land system in its full complexity, connect global trends with local realities, and work together across disciplines to reconcile multiple sustainability objectives.

Education

Van der Hilst views education as a driving force for positive change towards a more sustainable world. She is committed to the development of the bright and critical minds needed to become the change agents of the future. As a university, we face the important task of ensuring that our educational programmes keep pace with developments in science and society. Given the central role of sustainable land use in addressing today’s major global challenges, Van der Hilst aims to further strengthen and embed the theme of sustainable land use across the curricula within the department.

Abroad

Van der Hilst conducted her PhD research jointly at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ and Wageningen ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ & Research. After obtaining her PhD, she continued her academic career at the Copernicus Institute. She has been involved in many international research projects and spent several research periods abroad including in Mozambique, South Africa, Ukraine, Brazil, USA and Colombia.

Recognition

Her expertise is widely recognized within the international research community. Van der Hilst received the AXA-IM Climate Transition Award for her contributions to climate change research. She is a Lead Author for the Seventh Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Chair of Task 45 of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Bioenergy on the sustainability of the bioeconomy. Within Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ, Van der Hilst leads the section Energy & Resources of the Copernicus Institute for sustainable development.

Relationship

Prof. Annemarie van Wezel, Dean of the Faculty of Geosciences: "Given the crucial role of land use in today's sustainability challenges, I am delighted with this chair that will further stimulate and strengthen research in this area. Based on the nexus idea, the chair will also show the relationship between land use and issues related to energy, food, climate and biodiversity."

Strategic theme

This chair links to the strategic theme Pathways to Sustainability of Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ, thereby strengthening the profile of Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ in this theme.