Gret spaargaren

Gert Spaargaren-Born in Aalsmeer, Netherlands in February of 1954, Gert Spaargaren is currently an environmental policy professor for sustainability and patterns of consumption at Wageningen University, Netherlands. He is also a member of the Environmental Policy Group.

In 1973, Spaargaren attended the Herman Wesselink College in Amstelveen and until 1977 he studied the science of plant diseases at Wageningen University. In 1983, he earned a PhD in sociology from Wageningen. The same year, Spaargaren served as a project researcher at Oecumenisch Studie en Actiecentrum Investeringen (OSACI), and at Pax Christi, Utrecht, in Amsterdam. Spaargaren was also a research assistant and regular staff member at the Department Of sociology at Wageningen University in 1973.

Between 1999 and 2003, Spaargaren held a professorship at Tilburg University in the Netherlands teaching policy of environmental education. In 1999, he completed his dissertation on the ecological modernization of production and consumption at Wageningen University. He has been Senior Lecturer in Environmental Sociology and Policy at the Environmental Policy Group since 1999. Since 2004, he has been teaching environmental policy for sustainable lifestyles and patterns of consumption at Wageningen, and has been on the Chair of a Dutch national network of social scinec researhcers in the field of environment. In 2005, Spaargaren became coordinator at interim of Research Methodology Group in the department of social sciences at Wageningen. Spaargaren is the co-organizer of regional congresses for the ISA-RC-24.

As a professor, Spaargaren has taught and/or organized many courses on environmental science and sociology at Wageningen University. Courses he has taught include; Environment and Society, Sustainable Technology Development, and Theories and Themes in Sociology and Economics. He has also worked on and completed a number of research projects and supervised numerous Phd projects. Spaargaren finalized such projects as; Country Coordinator for international EU research project on "Transport and Risk Communication." He was also the project coordinator of the international Eu research project on "Citizenship involovement in the ecological modernization of household-related public utility sectors in the Eu. In addition, Spaargaren was a member of several panels and Organizations. He has had visiting professor-ships at universities in Finland, Brussel, Paris, and Colorado. Spaargaren has also participated in many guest lectures at universities around the globe. He has also contributed to dozens of publications throughout his career.

Spaargaren is married with two children and currently lives in the Netherlands.