Louise E.M. Vet is director of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO), one of the largest institutes of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and professor of Evolutionary Ecology at Wageningen University. Vet was awarded several international prizes for her research on plant-insect interactions, delivering basic knowledge for the strategic development of sustainable agro-ecosystems (e.g. British Rank Prize for Nutrition). Vet is an elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. She published more than 200 papers in international journals.

Vet is a biologist with a broad interest in ecology and evolution, and devoted to stimulate a positive interaction between ecology and economy. She serves on a diversity of national and international boards and committees. Selection: Chair of the Netherlands Ecological Research Network (NERN); the Environment Steering Panel of the European Academies Science Advisory Council; Chair of the Scientific Programme Indonesia – Netherlands; Circle-Economy.com, WWF-NL, etc.

Vet was the driving force behind NIOO’s prize winning sustainable laboratory/office complex ( www.nioo.knaw.nl/en/building ) for which she received the 2012 Golden Pyramid state prize. Linked to these building activities Vet stimulates public-private partnerships to encourage new eco-technological developments. She is active in the media and in ‘science for policy’ and a frequently invited speaker (e.g. TEDxAmsterdam 2009 and 2011).

Quote: "Destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems is a design problem. Let’s learn from nature and make use of 3.8 billion years of successful natural design to turn our linear economy into a circular one!"