Dr. Arjaan Pellis

Arjaan Pellis serves as Programme Director of BSc/MSc Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning and Lecturer in Cultural Geography at Wageningen University & Research, where he specializes in tourism conflicts and conservation practices. After completing his MA at the Erasmus School of Management and both his MSc and PhD at Wageningen University, he has developed significant expertise in analyzing social conflicts within tourism landscapes. His research portfolio spans multiple continents, examining conservation tourism practices across Africa and Europe, with particular focus on human-nature conflicts in places like Kenya, Namibia, Spain, and Portugal. His scholarly work investigates the complex dynamics of tourism conflicts, as evidenced in his publications on rewilding initiatives in Western Iberia, wolf conflicts in Redes Natural Park, and conservation challenges in Kenya's tourism landscapes. Through his teaching and research, he explores how conflicts shape tourism development and conservation practices, contributing to both academic understanding and practical applications in tourism governance. His recent work includes examining surf tourism dynamics in the Mentawai Islands and the persistent nature of conservation conflicts in various global contexts, demonstrating his commitment to understanding the complex relationships between tourism, conservation, and social conflict.