Current Work

Bird Ecologist
Waardenburg Ecology · Apr 2026 – Present
Research and data analysis focused on offshore avian movement ecology, population processes, and environmental impact assessments.
- Analysing animal tracking data from gulls and terns to investigate offshore space use and movement behaviour, applying advanced movement modelling approaches (e.g., Hidden Markov Models and Continuous-Time Movement Models) to support collision risk modelling, internal and external reporting, and scientific publications.
- Developing survival analyses using long-term ring-recovery datasets to quantify demographic parameters.
- Analysing field-based bird collision monitoring data to estimate collision mortality at offshore wind farms.
- Conducting aerial seabird surveys across the North Sea, identifying and quantifying seabirds and marine mammals from a small aircraft.
- Preparing ecological background reports for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Appropriate Assessments for Natura 2000 sites.

Co-coordinator of the Wader Working Group
Central Asian Conservation Network · Aug 2026 – Present
More details will follow soon.


Co-Chair of the Board
Batumi Raptor Count · 2018 – Present
Leading one of the world's largest volunteer-based migration monitoring projects, counting over one million raptors annually at a key corridor in the Republic of Georgia.

- Managing diverse research, conservation, and education projects within an international citizen-science NGO, building international partnerships and maintaining relations with local NGOs and governmental bodies.
- Initiator and coordinator of Flyway Monitoring Traineeships (launched 2024), training young conservationists from the Caucasus, Middle East, and Central Asia in structured bird monitoring, in collaboration with OSME.
- Initiator of the first full-season spring raptor migration counts for the Batumi bottleneck (2019, 2020 & 2022), leading the formal analysis and publication of the results.
- Co-leading fundraising efforts that have raised over €120k since 2022 for migration monitoring and conservation work against illegal raptor killing.
- Coordinating autumn and spring migration counts with 50+ international volunteers every season, including field training, identification presentations, and monitoring protocol development.

Management Committee Member
EUFLYNET Cost Action · Apr 2025 – Present
A European flyway research network for the effective conservation of migrant landbirds.

- Representing the Netherlands in the management committee, contributing to and voting over working plans and budgets.
- Member of Working Group 3, focused on establishing research priorities and Species Action Plans.

Validator
Observation.org · Dec 2021 – Present
A global citizen-science platform for collecting and sharing biodiversity data.
- Validating bird observations within the country of Georgia based on photos, sound recordings, and descriptions.

Academic services
I also have reviewed papers for:
- Movement Ecology
- Journal for Nature Conservation
- Journal for Raptor Research