My academic path began at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Utrecht, where I received my PhD in 1998. Over the following ten years, I held a series of short-term postdoctoral positions across three continents: at NIKHEF in Amsterdam, Flinders University in Adelaide, Ohio University, William & Mary and Jefferson Lab in the United States, and ECT* in Trento. Moving between these places gradually broadened my interests, from the formal structure of quantum field theory to strong-interaction phenomenology and precision physics.

In 2008 I joined the Institute for Nuclear Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, which has since become the centre of my scientific work. Mainz offers a great meeting point for nuclear, particle and atomic physics, and this has shaped both my research and my teaching. I teach and supervise students at graduate and postgraduate level, have written books aimed at developing physical ideas in a broader and more coherent way, and have been involved in organizing international conferences and workshops.