During the European Vocational Skills Week in Brussels on December 9, 2016, Professor Dr. Martin Mulder, founder of VETNET, received the VET Researcher Award, which was installed by  the European Commission, for his life time achievement to research on vocational education and training: Bridging the Worlds of Work and Education. The Award was presented by Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner, Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility.

CV of Professor Dr. Martin Mulder, Wageningen University, the Netherlands

Martin Mulder, PhD, is Professor and Head of the Chair Group of Education and Competence Studies, Wageningen University, in the Netherlands. He studied educational sciences at the University of Utrecht (1982), and did his PhD at the University of Twente (1992), also in the Netherlands.

He was appointed as chair in agricultural education in Wageningen 1998, and proceeded as the chair of the new group on Education and Competence Studies in 2004. In this position he is providing leadership for a teaching and research program on competence development in the agrifood and environment sector.

He is editor of The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension (JAEE), member of editorial board of the International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training (IJRVET) and member of editorial committees of various other journals in the field of education, training and development. He is the past chair of the European Journal of Vocational Training which was published by Cedefop, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training. He (co)published hundreds of academic and professional articles, chapters and books, for academic, policy, and practical audiences. He recently edited the book ‘Competence-Based Vocational and Professional Education. Bridging the Worlds of Work and Education’, which is published by Springer. Other recent works are:

Baggen, Y., Mainert, J., Lans, T., Biemans, H.J.A., Greiff, S. & Mulder, M. (2015). Linking complex problem solving to opportunity identification competence within the context of entrepreneurship. International Journal of Lifelong Education. 34, 4, p.p. 412-429.

Biemans, H., Wesselink, R., Gulikers, J., Schaafsma, S., Verstegen, J. & Mulder, M. (2009). Towards Competence-Based VET: Dealing with the Pitfalls. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 61(3), pp. 267-286.

Cremers, P., Wals, A.E.J., Renate, W., & Mulder, M. (online – November, 2016). Utilization of design principles for hybrid learning configurations by interprofessional design teams, Instructional Science. DOI 10.1007/s11251-016-9398-5.

Khaled, A., Gulikers, J., Biemans, H. & Mulder, M. (2015). How authenticity and self-directedness and student perceptions thereof predict competence development in hands-on simulations. British Educational Research Journal, 41(2), 265-286.

Mulder, M. (2014). Conceptions of Professional Competence. In: S. Billett, C. Harteis, H. Gruber (Eds). International Handbook of Research in Professional and Practice-based Learning. Dordrecht: Springer. pp. 107-137.

Mulder, M., T. Weigel & K. Collins (2007). The concept of competence concept in the development of vocational education and training in selected EU member states. A critical analysis. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 59, 1, 65-85.

Noroozi, O., Biemans, H.J.A., Weinberger, A., Mulder, M., & Chizari, M. (2013). Scripting for construction of a transactive memory system in a multidisciplinary CSCL environment. Learning and Instruction, 25(1), pp. 1-12.

Osagie, E., R. Wesselink, V. Blok, T. Lans, & M. Mulder (2016). Individual Competencies for Corporate Social Responsibility: A Literature and Practice perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 135( 2), pp. 233-252. DOI 10.1007/s10551-014-2469-0.

The research programme of his group on competence in agrifood and environment has been assessed as being of excellent and world-leading quality in 2015.

Mulder has served on various boards, councils and committees in his field. He is past-associate dean of research and past-chair of the faculty council at the University of Twente, past-chair of the Education Committee of the Wageningen Graduate School of Social Sciences, past-chair of the Examination Committee of the Department of Social Sciences, and past-chair of the Promotions and Tenure Committee of the Department of Social Sciences, and past-member of the Board of the Education Institute of Wageningen University.

He is past chair of the Division of Vocational, Corporate and Adult Education of the Netherlands Educational Research Association (VOR), past Academic Secretary of the VOR, and current chair of the Division of Higher Education of the VOR. He is founder of the Vocational Education and Training Network (VETNET) of the European Educational Research Association (EERA), past-chair of the Special Interest Group Workplace Learning (SIG WPL) of the American Educational Research Assocation (AERA), and co-convenor of the Integrated Research Network Vocational Education and Training (IRNVET) of the World Educational Research Association (WERA).

He is a frequent speaker at international conferences, symposia and meetings. In 2015 he organized and chaired the international conference on ‘Competence and Excellence in Extension and Education’ for the Association of International Agricultural and Extension Education and the European Seminar on Extension and Education, and in 2016 the international conference on ‘Competence Theory, Research and Practice’.

The European Vocational Skills Week is a new event, organized under the auspices of the European Commission.

Congratulations, Martin!