Hans has more than 25 years’ experience in the development and implementation of international scientific research, education and networking programmes with particular focus on Asia and the Pacific.

He presently serves as the Senior Programme Specialist with the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Sciences, Jakarta, Indonesia. The office serves as the principal hub for UNESCO’s natural sciences programmes across Asia and the Pacific. His duties include the coordination and management of the office’s natural science programmes, as well as the provision of support and guidance towards the science activities of UNESCO’s 13 field offices in the region. He is the regional focal point for two of UNESCO’s key intergovernmental science initiatives in the region - the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme and Man and the Biosphere programme.

Hans attained his PhD in scientific communication from CPAS on the basis of his thesis "Islands of Good Sense: Communicating UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme", an analysis of the key messages and objectives associated with UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere programme since its origins in the late 1960s. The thesis was in part based on his experiences in the Small Island Developing States of the Pacific, where he contributed to the establishment of the first Biosphere Reserves and marine World Heritage sites.

As a Visiting Fellow, Hans engages with the work of the newly-approved UNESCO Chair for Science Communication and the Public Good under establishment at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS).