Biography
I am full professor of General Sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Before, I worked at the universities of Leiden (Ph.D. University of Leiden, 1990), Amsterdam and Utrecht, and as a visiting professor at the Centre of Western European Studies at the University of California, Berkeley (spring 1996). I am an elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts & Sciences. (KNAW)
My work focuses on social inequality and international migration. My background is sociology, but I have always been inspired by insights from other disciplines, including anthropology, criminology, human geography, and public administration. I try to combine professional sociology with policy sociology and public sociology.
During my scientific career, I advised and conducted research for national governments, large and small municipalities, and international organizations. I have been a SOPEMI correspondent for the OECD and an elected member of the Dutch Advisory Council for Migration (ACVZ). In 2012, together with Erik Snel, I founded the knowledge lab for ‘Liveable neighbourhoods’ : a partnership between the city of Rotterdam and Erasmus University where local knowledge is produced and exchanged. And in 2014, I became an elected member of the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy.
In addition to this work, I taught courses on Introduction to General Social Sciences, Introduction to Sociology, Social Cohesion, Social Inequality, Transnationalism & Intra-EU Mobility, Urban Marginality and Urban studies. Currently, I teach a course on ‘The City as a Political Arena’ in the Master program Grootstedelijke vraagstukken en beleid [Metropolitan Issues & Social Policy].