Dr. Wouter Jacobs
Wouter Jacobs (PhD, 2007) is the founder and executive director of the Erasmus Commodity & Trade Centre (ECTC), fostering talent and ideas for future trade. He secured partnerships with 12 international firms through the Erasmus Trustfund. ECTC engages in academic and professional education, executive development, and applied research. Wouter leads the Leadership in Commodity Trade & Supply Networks executive program, launched in 2019, partnering with Singapore Management University and the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities. At Erasmus University, he is a senior research fellow at Erasmus UPT and has coordinated MSc programs in Urban Port & Transport Economics and Maritime Economics & Logistics for over a decade. In 2019, he won a 5-year tender to develop the Maritime Studies Programme Abroad for Nanyang Technological University. Since 2018, he has coordinated the MSc elective Introduction to Commodity Trade & Supply Networks at Rotterdam School of Management. Wouter serves on the advisory board of the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities, has published in international peer-reviewed journals, and is frequently cited in major media like Financial Times and Bloomberg. His contract research involves key stakeholders such as the Municipality of Rotterdam, Port Authorities, and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Main Research Areas
- Economic Geography and Regional Development
- Commodity Trade
- Maritime Business Services
- Port City Management and Evolution
Reinette Sluijk
Reinette Sluijk is the Programme Manager of the ‘Executive Programme Leadership in Commodity Trade and Supply Networks’ and the ‘Undergraduate Study Abroad Programme Maritime Studies from Nanyang Technological University’.
Maarten Frowein
Maarten is one of the initiators and founders of the Erasmus Trade & Commodity Center, where he now acts as trusted advisor to the management team. With over 25 years of experience in the commodity industry in various roles, Maarten is passionate about talent development and connecting emerging leaders in support of the business community. Through Frowein Executive Search Maarten is involved in boardroom advisory and executive recruitment in the Benelux, UK, Germany and Switzerland.
Nicole da Silva
Nicole is the Operations Manager, she oversee the seamless execution of our Academic and Executive education programmes. Nicole’s role is critical in managing logistics, including course coordination, participant registration, and communication, ensuring that each learning experience runs smoothly. Nicole has led the development of our Careers in commodity website while also coordinating marketing efforts and maintaining effective channels of communication with stakeholders. With a focus on improving workflow and efficiency, she supports our growing team by designing systems and processes that align with our strategic goals.
Navya Kumar
Navya Kumar is a Junior Researcher, contributing to Erasmus Commodity and Trade Centre’s applied research portfolio and teaching engagements. With a focus on the evolving dynamics of commodities trade and sustainability, she plays a vital role in translating complex research into actionable insights for industry stakeholders. Navya’s work spans a diverse range of topics, including carbon markets, critical raw materials, and the trade of ammonia and hydrogen. By synthesizing these areas, she develops strategic recommendations that address industry challenges in commodities trade.
Main Research Interests
- International Trade
- Energy Transition and Decarbonization
- Competitiveness and Regional Development
Robert Horster
Robert Horster is a Senior Researcher who has joined our team to expand our research portfolio.
Robert has long been part of our network and has contributed greatly to Erasmus Commodity & Trade Centre.
Robert holds a master's degree from the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam in monetary economics and fundamental economic theory. He has lectured on food security and commodity risk at Singapore Management University and Erasmus University and has a special interest in food security, classical history, and artificial intelligence.
Main Research Interests
- Global Food security
- Resilient Agriculture
- Environmental Markets
Ecosystem Services
Gabriella Guinlle
Gabriella Guinlle is a postdoctoral researcher. Her work focuses on understanding how pricing hubs form and examining the conditions under which the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) port-industrial complex could become a global pricing centre for hydrogen and its derivatives.
Previously, in her PhD at the Amsterdam Business School, she examined how Europe's energy transition is being organised and how the process is contested and constructed by different actors, with the creation of hydrogen markets as the central case. She studies what corporate actors do when a technology is still open to interpretation, how they envision futures that fit the assets they already own, how they frame what counts as clean or transition-relevant in EU policy consultations, and how directionality set from the EU meets the material conditions of hard-to-abate sectors like steel. A separate strand examines citizen-led energy initiatives in Amsterdam, where access to participation still depends on property, capital, and social position, and the futures that are built are imagined by actors whose voices are formally incorporated into decision-making, while others remain outside the process.
The postdoctoral project extends this work to the pricing dimension of market formation, examining institutional architecture, intermediary organisations, and pricing infrastructure through which an emerging energy commodity becomes tradable, with a focus on hydrogen and its derivatives (ammonia, methanol, LOHC).
Main Research Interests
- Hydrogen market formation and pricing infrastructure
- Market creation in emerging energy commodities
- Corporate framing and policy contestation in energy transitions
- Decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors (steel, ammonia)
Project
Hy-SUCCESS (Global Supply Chains). Duration: April 2026 – March 2028 (M1–M24). Funder: GroenvermogenNL (Work Package 7)
Description: Activity 2.1.1 examines constraints and enablers in the development of international hydrogen trade and supply networks, and the institutional conditions under which the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp region could develop into a global pricing centre for hydrogen and its derivatives.