Mattijs is a pre-doctoral fellow with the Harvard STS Program for the 2012-2013 academic year and a PhD-candidate in environmental planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is also the Assistant Director of the MIT Science Impact Collaborative, which works on the analysis and development of effective conflict resolution techniques in environmental disputes. His dissertation focuses on the creation of markets for ecosystem services in the United States. As an STS Fellow, he will continue work on his dissertation and serve as a teaching fellow for ESPP-78: Environmental, an undergraduate course at Harvard College taught by Sheila Jasanoff.

Van Maasakkers has conducted research on environmental conflicts in the United States, the European Union and South Africa. He has worked with the United States Bureau of Reclamation, the United States Geological Survey, the National Audubon Society and the Consensus Building Institute on the assessment and intervention in environmental conflicts in the Columbia and Mississippi River basins in the US. As an STS Fellow, he will continue work on his dissertation and serve as a teaching fellow for ESPP-78: Environmental, an undergraduate course at Harvard College taught by Sheila Jasanoff. He received a Master’s in City Planning from MIT. Before coming to MIT, he received a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, he worked on the creation of the Amsterdam Center for Conflict Studies.