About me

I am Assistant Professor in the Computational Science Lab of the University of Amsterdam and a Resident Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies. Furthermore I am a board member of the Dutch Chapter of NetSci; a board member of the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena; and a member of the Netherlands Platform for Complex Systems.

I am fascinated by the emergence of complex systemic behavior which arises from the interactions in a system. Examples include human cognition arising from neurons and synapses; cellular regulatory processes arising from proteins and RNA; flocking patterns arising from birds and fish; and societies arising from individuals. There is currently no universal method to understand or predict such complex, emergent behaviors. I am developing a candidate method based on information theory. I work on various types of applications in various collaborations, including the immune system, health and well-being, finance, and psychopathology, in the hope of transferring knowledge across domains as well as identifying universalities in their emergent properties.

My activities

Some highlights (random order)

Board member of NetSci in NL

I have become a board member of the Dutch chapter of the well-known international Network Science Society (NetSci).

World wearing a face mask against virus particles

Latest project granted

With PI Marcel Olde Rikkert (Radboud UMC), this project has the ambition to innovate the way in which we will handle the ‘next Covid’. It will hire four postdocs for two years, starting early 2022.

Research Fellow in IAS

I am a Research Fellow in the Institute of Advanced Studies in Amsterdam, where I contribute a complex systems perspective to multiple projects.

Tuebingen impression

Selected invited lecture

I was invited to give a presentation in the Amazon Research Center, Germany, hosted by Dominik Janzing, on January 21/22.