I hold an MSc in economics and a PhD in environmental sciences. I have been working at ESSRG since its foundation, currently as full-time senior researcher. Between 2008-2019 I taught environmental conflict management, ecological economics and decision techniques at different Hungarian universities.
I have been engaged in research since my graduation at the Corvinus University of Budapest, first focusing on the challenges of rural development, later on engaging local communities in the assessment of ecosystem services. The socio-cultural valuation of ecosystem services – beside being the topic of my PhD thesis – is still one of my core research interests. I love working with people who have diverse backgrounds and on-the-ground experience, and over the years I have developed skills in social scientific, participatory and deliberative techniques which help me facilitate knowledge co-creation processes.
Lately I have familiarized myself with policy analysis and evidence synthesis approaches. I have been engaged in the work of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) since 2014, first as a member of the Values Expert Group, later as a Lead Author of the Global Assessment, and currently as a Coordinating Lead Author of the Values Assessment. This experience has given new impulses and urged me to conceptualize and reflect on science-policy interactions in general. The János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences provides financial support to my ongoing research on engaging diverse actors in science-policy interactions.
External positions:
- External researcher at the Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Sociology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence (János Bolyai Research Scholarship)
- Vice-president of the European Society for Ecological Economics
- Member of the editorial board of Ecosystems and People
- Member of the editorial board of Kovász
Core research interests:
- ecosystem services and biodiversity
- agri-environmental public goods and alternative food systems
- diverse values, trade-offs and conflicts
- science-policy interface and boundary organizations
Selected publications:
- McElwee, P., Turnout, E., Chiroleu-Assouline, M., Clapp, J., Isenhour, C., Jackson, T., Kelemen, E., Miller, D.C., Rusch, G., Spangenberg, J.H., Waldron, A., (…), 2020. Ensuring a post-COVID economic agenda tackles global biodiversity loss. One Earth.
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Rodríguez-Morales, B., Roces-Díaz, J.V., Kelemen, E., Pataki, G. and Díaz-Varela, E., 2020. Perception of ecosystem services and disservices on a peri-urban communal forest: Are landowners’ and visitors’ perspectives dissimilar?. Ecosystem Services, 43, p.101089.
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Varumo, L., Paloniemi, R. and Kelemen, E., 2020. Challenges and solutions in developing legitimate online participation for EU biodiversity and ecosystem services policies. Science and Public Policy, 47(4), pp.571-580.
- Vasconcelos, M.W., Balázs, B., Kelemen, E., Squire, G.R. and Iannetta, P.P., 2019. Transitions to Sustainable Food and Feed Systems. Frontiers in plant science, 10, p.1283.
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Pascual, U., Balvanera, P., Díaz, S., Pataki, G., Roth, E., Stenseke, M., Watson, R.T., Dessane, E.B., Islar, M., Kelemen, E., Maris, V., (…), 2017. Valuing nature’s contributions to people: the IPBES approach. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 26, pp.7-16.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6409-1883
Eszter Kelemen: Diverse values and plural valuation: options and opportunities to contribute to sustainability transformations. Keynote at Biodiversity crisis in a changing world. 6th European Congress of Conservation Biology, Prague, 22–26 August, 2022
