The relationship between healthy ecosystems and the well-being of people has always been a main interest of mine throughout my 15 years of work in conservation and sustainable development. Born in Germany, I graduated from the Bremen Centre for Tropical Marine Research with a master’s degree in Marine Ecology. I then joined WWF Germany, where I coordinated the organisations work on Marine Protected Areas in the North Sea, Europe and the High Seas. GRID-Arendal brought me to Norway, where I still live. There, I developed the Blue Solutions Initiative together with its partner organisations and adapted the ecosystem services training to a marine context. In 2021, I joined Strømme Foundation, to focus on poverty alleviation and the empowerment of marginalised groups.

I greatly enjoy delivering the Blue Solutions Trainings and have had the pleasure of doing so on many occasions around the globe. Helping a group to tease out the wealth of experience its participants bring to the workshop is the key ingredient for a successful training. That means meeting as people, respectfully and open to new insights. And, not least, to have fun together!