Jelle Hilbers is a conservation biologist with an expertise in viability modelling of populations and species. His research focuses on quantifying human impacts on biodiversity. He explores which intrinsic and external factors drive species and populations to extinction, and subsequently identify ways to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss. He employs a modelling approach in which he integrates allometric relationships, pressure-response relationships and global databases into population viability analysis to accurately quantify extinction risks for a large number of populations and species. This allows him to answer both theoretical and applied questions in (macro)ecology and conservation biology. The type of information obtained from his research is used in global biodiversity assessments and helps to provide important input for decision-making necessary to protect wildlife.

Within DECIPHER he uses his expertise to quantify and analyze the impacts of multiple human pressures on biodiversity. He helps to develop quantitative indicators for biodiversity that can be used in economic models to evaluate responses of biodiversity to climate and land use change. He further contributes to the economic valuation of terrestrial biodiversity so that they can establish a two directional link between the economic and environmental systems. This will help to better understand how changes in the environment affect wellbeing and economic decisions.