Dr. Edwin Horlings

Edwin Horlings has been a senior researcher with the Science System Assessment division since October 2007.

Academic background and career
Edwin studied Economic and Social History at VU University Amsterdam. He then went on to work as a researcher on the project 'Reconstructing the National Exchequer of the Netherlands, 1800-1913'. In 1995, he was awarded a doctorate by Utrecht University for his account of the economic development of the Dutch services sector between 1800 and 1850. From 1995 to 2000, Edwin Horlings held various positions at Utrecht University, the Centre for Economic Studies at the University of Leuven, Belgium, the University of Amsterdam and the University of Groningen (as guest researcher). His research during this period was concerned with the long-term development of, and structural change within, national economies, and involved an analysis of the quality of life enjoyed by the general population in various periods. In 2001, he made a foray into the private sector and joined the European offices of the RAND Corporation (a leading American consultancy) where he stayed until 2006. His work here was primarily concerned with the information society and ICT policy, and the role of technology in higher education. He helped to produce an ex-ante impact assessment for the European Commission.