Nils has studied history and social science at the University of Basel (Switzerland) and the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne I (France) focusing on social conflicts and development politics. Long stays in Latin America, which included working for the Swiss Embassy in Uruguay and Peru, as well as intense studies of the local political and social life have made him an expert on this region.

As part of his research for the ethnographical study “From gold miner to millionaire,” Nils shared the lives of the miners in Madre de Dios for several months. In addition, he has worked in Peru as a consultant for the Better Gold Initiative (BGI). Nils accompanied Daniel Schweizer in Peru while he was working on portraits of human rights activists for his exhibition “Faces of Human Rights Defenders and the Extractive Industry” (2013).