Education and career
Esther studied Biomedical Sciences (BSc) and American Studies (MA) at the University of Amsterdam. Both within academia and outside of it, she has studied the creation, role and power of (scientific) knowledge in society and looked for ways of sharing her learnings with a wider audience. Amongst other things, she has worked as an editor at news platform ScienceGuide, programmer at Stem op een Vrouw and the European Press Prize, and as a writer at architecture firm Space&Matter. Her master's thesis explored the rhetoric and aesthetics of the Future Farmers of America, an agricultural youth organization founded in 1928 with the aim of preparing teenage boys for a career and life as a modern farm through various activities and rituals.
Within the Robust science and knowledge ecosystems theme, Esther is currently investigating what knowledge is needed to realise and accelerate the agricultural transition(s) in the Netherlands and how citizens can contribute to research and innovation in a meaningful way.