Tamara Avellan is a sustainable water specialist with a background in biology-limnology, physical geography and wastewater management. Her 20-year global career at universities and the United Nations revolves around the Water-Energy-Food(-Ecosystem) Nexus, nature-based solutions for pollution control (constructed wetlands), and sustainable water and wastewater management including unconventional water use and wastewater reuse. While her background is natural science based, she has a major interest in participatory research practices to achieve local impact and bridge the science-policy gap. She has developed stakeholder engagement practices for Nexus research, participatory knowledge co-creation strategies for sustainable resource management, and policy impact strategies to transfer scientific knowledge into European policy.