Bio

Patrick Meyfroidt holds a PhD in geography (2009) and a degree in sociology from Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) in Belgium. Since 2016 he is Research Associate at the F.R.S-FNRS (the Belgian Research Funds) and Professor at UCLouvain.

His research focuses on how land use and more broadly land systems can contribute to sustainability.
His main research interests are land use transitions, i.e. non-linear land use dynamics at broad scale such as forest transitions and emergence of land use frontiers; linkages between globalization and land use including supply chain interventions to halt deforestation; theories of land system change; and social-ecological feedbacks.

His recent projects include the MIDLAND project https://erc-midland.earth/ (ERC Starting Grant) investigating emerging agricultural and forestry frontiers in Mozambique and Southern Africa; the SUSTAIN-COCOA project https://epl.ethz.ch/research/SUSTAIN-COCOA.html researching cocoa supply chains, deforestation and sustainability in West Africa; the COUPLED project https://coupled-itn.eu/ investigating telecouplings and sustainability issues; and participations to the Trase initiative https://www.trase.earth/ .

He visited UBC (Liu Institute / SPPGA & IRES) from August 2022 to July 2023.