Carijn Beumer has a background is in Culture and Science Studies (MA), which she studied at Maastricht University. In 2007 she started working as a Junior Researcher and Lecturer at the International Centre for Integrated Assessment and Sustainable Development (ICIS) at Maastricht University. There, she worked on a variety of projects, including the INTERREG IV funded ‘SUN project’ (Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods) (2009-2012). In April 2009 she got involved in Leren voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling (LVDO), a project on ‘Sustainability in Education’ in the Province of Limburg. Since 2014, Carijn has been the research coordinator for Operatie Steenbreek, a Dutch initiative carried by various knowledge institutions (including Groningen University, Wageningen UR), societal organizations, and municipalities to make domestic gardens more biodiverse and turn the trend of paving gardens.

Next to research Carijn was involved in setting up the MSc programme Sustainability Science and Policy, and in teaching, coordinating and developing various courses on Bachelor and Master level at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG), the University College Maastricht (UCM), and the Maastricht University Graduate School of Sustainability Science (MUST). She coordinated and developed the course Global Dynamics in the MSc course Sustainability Science and Policy.

In 2014 Carijn successfully defended her dissertation ‘Stepping Stone Cities? Exploring Urban Greening and Gardening as a Viable Contribution to Global Biodiversity Conservation’. During her dissertation research, which partly took place at the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University (2012), Carijn developed the BIMBY method, which is now increasingly being used by Dutch municipalities to assess the contribution of domestic gardens to a sustainable urban living environment.

In 2015 Carijn got a position as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (Department of Health, Ethics and Society), where she continues her research on the role of domestic green spaces for sustainable urban living environments, while extending it with a focus on ecosystem services for health and human well-being.

With regards to teaching, Carijn is involved in teaching and coordinating Master courses of the Global Health programme,