Marta is the Co-Director at the Academy for Systems Change, where she helps coordinate research and content development building on Donella Meadows’ work. With a doctorate in forest ecology, over the years Marta has become interested in economies that prioritize communities and nature.

Before this position, Marta worked as a Research Professor for 10 years at the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at University of Vermont. There she taught and did research on how nature contributes to people’s wellbeing through services such as water purification by wetlands, or climate regulation by forests. In her international consulting with the United Nations Development Programme Marta has quantified ecosystem services to build capacity for local management of protected areas. Marta has also worked with students and professionals in face-to-face and online classes, and in ateliers, hands-on travel courses to solve a sustainability issue over two weeks.  In her work Marta tries to balance scientific rigor, advocacy and mindfulness. And she likes to dance, playing the accordion, growing vegetables, and native Italian cooking.

• Location: Vermont, USA