Inge Liekens is an interdisciplinary researcher and practitioner working at the interface of science and public policy. She has a Master in Commercial Sciences, Master in Human ecology and a Bachelor in Biotechnology. She joined VITO, Belgium in 2003 where she has contributed to research on several national and international projects in the field of assessment of environmental costs and benefits with a particular emphasis on the socio-economic valuation of ecosystem services (CBA Sigmaplan, Aquamoney, ECOPLAN, ESMERALDA…) and use of it in socio-economic impact assessments and Cost benefit analysis. Knowledge collected through these projects is translated in webbased tools like Natuurwaardeverkenner and Klimaatportaal. She conducted several workshops, interviews, surveys and choice experiments in order to map user requirements and stakeholder preferences. She did choice experiments to look into the value people attach to recreational aspects of green areas and the socio-economic value attached to heritage.
Before joining VITO, she worked as a consultant in risk- and environmental communication. She helped Flemish administrations in communicating to different stakeholder groups on different environmental issues.