Salina Magdalena Spiering (Ph.D.) is a political geographer with an interdisciplinary training and research background in geography, political science and biology.  She has worked in inter- and transdisciplinary research for over 10 years. She has extensive knowledge and experience in the design of development and sustainability processes. Her research agenda includes biodiversity governance, agri-food system transformation, quality criteria for transformative science, feminist approaches and conflict transformation. As a trained mediator, she brings a process-oriented approach to projects to find strategic solutions. She emphasises capacity building and reflexive monitoring to continuously improve projects. Salina has worked as a researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ in Leipzig, Germany, before joining Nordland Research Institute as a senior researcher in September 2023. She is currently leading work package 03 on participatory methods to support social transition and innovation within the EU transdisciplinary project EmpowerUS.