Jan holds a PhD in agricultural sciences and has worked extensively on the design of development and conservation policies in the Amazon region. After his PhD he joined a group of ecologists at Munich University of Technology, where he studied optimal forest and grassland management approaches in South and Eastern Africa. In 2007 he moved back to the Amazon to coordinate regional research networks at the Amazon Initiative in Belém (Brazil). Since 2010, Jan is based at CIFOR's project office in Rio de Janeiro, where is work concentrates on the analysis of policies for Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).