Hans Dieleman is of Dutch origin and holds a Masters and PhD degree in sociology of knowledge, obtained in the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Since 2007 he works as a full professor in the College of Sciences and Humanities of the Autonomous University of Mexico City (UACM). His research focuses on change processes towards more sustainable societies. He has been doing research in industry (cleaner production, eco-design, socially responsible entrepreneurship), in cities (waste management, climate change government, resilient cities) and in education (education for sustainability, art and transdisciplinarity as specific ways of knowing).
His academic research themes are epistemology and hermeneutics (how do we perceive the world, understand reality), reflective practice (how do we evaluate our own actions) and emotional intelligence/embodied cognition (how are we in contact with ourselves beyond mere cognitive knowing). He co-received two national Dutch distinctions for his work in Education for Sustainability and is co-receiver of a 2010 national Mexican distinction for the development of the Sustainability Plan for the Metropolitan University of Mexico City (UAM-Azcapotzalco).
Previously he worked in the Center of Environmental Studies of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (1987-2005), a function that he combined for several years with coordinating a European-wide Master program in Environmental Management of the European Association of Environmental Management Education (secretariat in Varese, Italy) (1994-2000). He also worked as an invited professor in the “Université Dauphine” in Paris (2002-2004), France and as a visiting professor in the Autonomous Metropolitan University of Mexico City (UAM-Azcapotzalco) (2005-2007). In the period 2013-2014 he was a member of the academic team that prepared the Doctoral Program in Transdisciplinary Studies of the “Universidad Veracruzana” in Xalapa, Mexico.
The past 15 years, he has been working in particular on the development of the field of Art, Transdisciplinarity and Sustainability, a field that allows him to integrate several of the above-mentioned themes.
He is co-founder and honorary member of the international NGO “Cultura21” specialized in ‘cultures and arts of sustainability’, an NGO with offices in Germany, Denmark, France and Mexico. He is a fellow of the Texas/USA based Association for Transdisciplinary Learning and Advanced Studies (The Atlas), a member of the European Sociological Association and of the Dutch Inter-university Research School SENSE for environmental and sustainability research.
In Mexico, he is a member of the Interuniversity Research Program on Climate Change (PINCC), initiated by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), a member of the Mexican National Network of Researchers in Social-Cultural Studies of Emotions (RENISCE), equally initiated by the UNAM, and a member of the National System of Researchers of the Mexican Council of Science and Technology (SNI/Conacyt).