Martijn studied Wildlife Management at University of Applied Sciences Van Hall Larenstein in the Netherlands.  His main expertise is herpetology and general ecology. He has great knowledge of Bialowieza and surroundings. During his study he lived in Bialowieza for six months monitoring amphibians and writing a management plan.This has been the start of a long lasting interest in the biodiversity and wildlife at Bialowieza and a remaining connection to the area. To this day Martijn is very much involved with the newly founded Wejmutka Bialowieza Biodiversity Academy. The last few years he actively deals with the general forest ecology and amphibian monitoring in different landscapes in Northeastern Poland.

In every day life, since 10 years, Martijn is the managing director of Soontiëns (Eindhoven, The Netherlands), a company specialized in

• landscaping
• ecology
• treework
• city-nature
• pond-restauration to improve biodiversity