I am an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, part of the Center for Topology, Algebra and their Applications (CTA^2). My main field of research is algebraic topology. In particular I study manifold invariants, cobordism categories and topics in mathematical physics such as topological quantum field theories, as well as applications of topology in the life sciences and in palaeobiology.
Together with Gijs Heuts, Magdalena Kędziorek, Inbar Klang, Lennart Meier and Steffen Sagave, I am part of the NWO XL consortium Symmetry on the interface of topology and higher algebra, and we are hiring several positions and organising a variety of scientific events between 2025 and 2031.
I am also part of the PRELIFE network researching the origin of life. This is a large-scale consortium with 62 researchers working on all aspects of origin of life research, including astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth and (exo)planetary sciences, educational science, information sciences, mathematics, and physics, funded by the Nationale Wetenschapsagenda (NWA). My project, co-supervised with Mark van Zuilen and Otto Sumray, applies topological data analysis to the problem of distinguishing biogenic fossils from abiogenic features in the rock record.
In 2022-2025 I held a VENI grant titled Shapes inside shapes in mathematics, physics, and biology.
