Meet Michel van de Velden

How to make data meaningful 

In the Netherlands, statistics is not taught in high school, so nothing in my early education pointed me directly towards it. I discovered the subject through econometrics and became fascinated by the logic behind data. During my thesis, my supervisor insisted that I justify every statement and prove what I claimed, and that discipline has stayed with me. 

My research is mainly about exploring data. I work with large data sets that have many observations, many variables, and plenty of complexity. The question is how to learn something meaningful from all of that. I develop and study methods that uncover structure in data in such a way that we can use the resulting insights in practice.  

Academics across borders 

During my career, I have travelled quite a bit. I did my PhD in Amsterdam and later worked in Barcelona and Groningen before settling in Rotterdam, where I have now been based for about 20 years.  

I still travel to conferences, and those trips keep me connected to new ideas and new people. In recent years, I have collaborated a lot with colleagues in Italy, so I go there nearly every year. I also spent a few months working in Japan, which was a very different environment from here. This impressed me in many senses, and I really loved the experience. 

'Search for what genuinely interests you’

Lessons in teaching 

I taught my first class while I was doing my PhD, and I remember finding it genuinely fun. Later, I spent time in Barcelona teaching much larger groups, which provided some great lessons in communication.  

My biggest lesson was that expertise can be a disadvantage in the classroom. At first, I had difficulty understanding students’ questions. Because I was an expert in my field, some material seemed very obvious to me, even though to the students, this was not the case at all. In my years of teaching, I learned to try to listen for the real question and explain ideas in a new and clearer way.  

I especially like working with students who genuinely want to learn and understand. The students who sometimes get on my nerves are those who focus mainly on grades and want you to tell them in advance exactly how to score the maximum. Another familiar type of student is the optimiser, who tries to do as little as possible while still passing. I can relate to that because in my first year, I probably did this too, although I was risk averse and still aimed higher than a six. Later, I started to realise that it is fun to understand things, and my grades followed naturally. 

Find your genuine passion 

If I could give students one piece of advice, it would be to search for what genuinely interests you. Do not go to university only to chase high marks or to collect a diploma. Learning in itself is a very rewarding experience. This time is a rare opportunity to develop yourself and discover what you want from life.  

And please enjoy student life as well. Socialising, meeting people from different cultures, and building friendships can be deeply enriching. When you are older, it is often harder to create that kind of community, so seize the opportunity while you have it.