Directory Profile

A vibrant and inclusive research community is a great asset for any discipline. As IUSSP Secretary-General (2005-2009 and 2017-2025) and as Executive Director of the European Association for Population Studies (EAPS), I enjoy helping to build such a community. I like to work with colleagues from diverse backgrounds and from all career stages and I am especially proud to have contributed to more involving the next generation of population scientist in the IUSSP. Trained as a sociologist and social demographer at Utrecht University I spent most of my career at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute where I led several national and international research projects and worked with the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Union. Since my retirement I have been an Honorary Fellow at NIDI. The richness of our broad field of population studies and its social and policy impact keeps inspiring me, as is keeping IUSSP future proof and relevant in a highly dynamic world. As a protagonist of active ageing, I happily combine my work in science with my family, including being an involved grandfather of three.