Yue Dou   Assistant Professor

University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands

          My research program focuses on applying geospatial analysis and modeling approaches to study agricultural and food systems in the context of global change. I am particularly interested in addressing human actors’ heterogeneity and agency in land use modeling, through which leverage points of the system can be identified for interventions. I am interested in land uses as a means to ask and answer interdisciplinary questions related to the cross-scale and cross-boundary drivers, responses, and feedbacks between human and natural systems, utilizing theories of geography, ecology, and complex sciences. My overarching goal is to provide sustainable solutions for social and ecological issues associated with land-use changes, such as: how to effectively reduce deforestation, and safeguard food security and livelihood. The main part of my research portfolio is using novel geo-simulation (e.g., agent-based model, land system approach) as a hub, facilitated by spatio-temporal analysis to simulate different human agents (e.g., smallholder farmers, supply-chain actors, government officials) interacting with different environments (e.g., the fast-changing Amazon delta, Brazilian savannah–Cerrado, different bioclimatic regions of Europe).

          Keywords: food security,Telecoupling,Agent-based model,Coupled natural-human systems,Land-use and Land-cover change,Biodiversity,Poverty alleviation,Food system,Supply chains,Agricultural trade,sustainability