I believe science, as we have come to know it in our day and age, is one useful way we have tried to grasp questions about humanity and other aspects of reality. But it is not the only way, nor always the most helpful.

It is widely acknowledged that science currently faces significant challenges. The scientific community is often exclusionary and elitist; publishing has become an expensive, political endeavour. There is a culture of ‘fast work’ where academics are afforded less time to engage deeply in learning, contemplation, and writing. Moreover, science too often neglects alternative forms of knowledge production, such as indigenous knowledge and other relevant, non-academic recognitions of wisdom.

Moreover, there exist phenomena that most of us feel or know to be true, but that remain to be dismissed by most academics. I am referring to the deep intuition that clinicians in my research utilize when treating patients, to the magic with which Indigenous shamans and mediums—whom I have studied in my fieldwork—work, and to nature, Source, God, Love, or whatever names people worldwide and throughout history have used for the progressive force that creates consciousness. Additionally, there are phenomena that are presented in academic journals as though they reflect fact, while the many uncertain factors we do not know or that do not fit into accepted conceptual frameworks, remain inadequately addressed.

I am interested in precisely those things: those which we cannot understand or do not recognize about reality yet, but that matter nevertheless. These range from the unheard voices of slum dwellers, Inuit hunters, and other marginalized peoples in the unfolding climate debate, to humanitarian practices that aid workers conduct in conflict settings but that remain unregistered in formal evaluations, to the ways in which humans have studied, and perceive, the languages and sentience of nonhuman animals. My research projects have also covered the human workload and ethical dilemmas that remain concealed by Artificial Intelligence systems, as well as the small, hardly noticeable but crucially important gestures—smiles, shoulder pats, and jokes – made by nurses to alleviate suffering in hospitals.

I explore these phenomena experientially through my anthropological research projects, and theoretically through the concept of “absent presence,” which helps me highlight the productive value of blind spots or unrecognized practices. I investigate them methodologically by combining ethnography with other types of knowledge production, including co-creation and co-authoring with groups and individuals with relevant wisdom and experience but without academic training.

The tools I have developed to conduct such research include what I have termed “Anthropological Fiction” in one of my articles and the “Future-in-the-Now” methodology, which incorporates the arts and futures thinking and has been recognized for its innovative approach. In all of my projects, I encourage myself and my PhD students and postdocs to resist fast and shallow research; instead, we try to prioritize deep work and continue to be open to learning, which means we allow ourselves to change our mind, again and again.

My academic vision is inspired by, and resonates with scholars such as Isabelle Stengers and Bruno Latour, and echoes Friedrich Schelling when he wrote that “the question is not what view must we adopt so as to explain the appearance in a way that accords with some philosophy [… but] in what way must we broaden our thinking as to get a hold on the phenomenon?”

Thus, I aim to contribute to a more holistic, humble, curious, and genuinely progressive type of science.

I do so in several ways: I am the co-founding director of an international foundation that supports a radically different type of science, I am the Editor-in-Chief of the Futures Reframed Journal, which has been recognized for its innovative setup, and I serve as the President of the Dutch Future Society. Moreover, I have authored eight books and over 40 academic, peer-reviewed articles. My work has received multiple grants and awards, including a €1.5 million grant from the European Research Committee, as well as recognition from the Amsterdam University Fund, NWO and the Next Nature Foundation (for a full list of awards, grants, and publications, please see my C.V.). I am also the founder of The Emic – Anthropological Stories from the Field, an international audio platform that makes our discipline more accessible for a wider audience, and find delight in writing a monthly digital letter to a few thousand academic and  non-academic readers, with whom I share snippets of my fieldwork, ideas, revelations, and creative work.