W.R. van Rossem (Wouter)

Wouter currently works on the European Research Council (ERC) funded project Processing Citizenship as a PhD student at the University of Twente
Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences. In this project we investigate how data infrastructures for population processing co-produce citizens, Europe and territory.

Previously Wouter has worked as a software engineer in different companies and recently at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. A varied background of both theoretical and hands-on knowledge and interest in the interconnections between technology and society brought him now to this interdisciplinary project as a PhD Candidate at the University of Twente.

Expertise

• Computer Science

  • Ontology
  • Data Model
  • Information Systems
  • Data Infrastructure
  • Control
  • Heterogeneous Data

• Earth and Planetary Sciences

  • Datum
  • Infrastructure

Organisations

With both an academic background from his Msc in Applied Computer Science at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and applied experience as a software engineer working in several companies, Wouter joins the Processing Citizenship project with engineering expertise.

Furthermore, how knowledge, rules, and processes are embedded in information systems and the implications this has on governance, has interested him since his master dissertation for his other Msc in Management. In this context he conducted research on the way rules defined by business processes are incorporated in IT systems, and the challenges this causes. His research has also mapped out different alternatives when creating, maintaining, or reengineering these kinds of systems.

This academic background combined with work on banking, utilities, and media system development facilitates the understanding of the nitty-gritty of system design. It is an ideal starting point to analyse how data infrastructures for population processing are designed, how they shape individual and institutional identities, and to find new ways to investigate the impact of data circulation between different information systems.

His latest experience as a trainee in the text and data mining unit at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Italy comes from an interest to return to research. It showed him how interesting it can be to work with an institution, and how research is used in policy making. He is therefore delighted to continue studying the impacts of science and technology on society (and vice versa) and its policy implications.

Publications

Research profiles

Current projects

Processing Citizenship

Digital registration of migrants as co-production of citizens, territory and Europe

Thanks to the financial support of an ERC Starting Grant (2017-22), we are investigating the informational processing of third-country nationals as inter-governmental practices that are challenging our established notions of “citizenship”, “state”, “Europe” and “territory”, as they become embedded in digital infrastructures that cross member states. This is a pressing technical and operative issue. Technically, migrant data circulation requires infrastructural standardization and integration among agencies at European, national and local levels. Operationally, gaps and misalignments in data collection, classification and circulation can lead to major drawbacks not only in the European migration machine, but also in European multi-level governance.

Address

University of Twente

Ravelijn (building no. 10), room 4301
Hallenweg 17
7522 NH Enschede
Netherlands

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Organisations