About

In 1997 I started my studies at Maastricht University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. I obtained a Master’s degree in the interdisciplinary field of Cultural Sciences on the subject of French semiotics and early animation movies. Between 2001 and 2003 I worked as a junior researcher at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences on a project about computer games and game studies together with Joseph Wachelder and Johan van de Walle. At the same time, together with a group of colleagues from the University of Maastricht and Amsterdam, I wrote an NWO project proposal. In 2003, this project – Transformations in Perception and Participation: Digital Games – was granted and I started working as a PhD student. My supervisors were Prof. Dr. Ir. Wiebe Bijker and Dr. Joseph Wachelder. I defended my PhD thesis, The Place of Play. On toys, Technological Innovations and Geographies of Play, March 2008. The Place of Play deals with changing producer/consumer relationships within the ‘participatory’ or ‘many-to-many’ culture. I have researched the many-to-many phenomenon within the context of traditional toys, computer games and participation games or Serious Games. During my time at Maastricht University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences I taught classes on both the Bachelor and Master level on diverse topics. I also co-organized an international conference on innovative game design in 2005 in collaboration with the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht, an international symposium on sound and memory (Sound Souvenirs) in 2006 in Maastricht and a symposium on playful forms of dealing with urban issues (Playing the Urban) at the Balie in Amsterdam in 2007. I presented my work at various international conferences. I currently work at the Mondriaan Foundation in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.