Name at birth: b. Martinus Mulder

Place of birth: Meppel

Family: Married; three children

Education: State HBS-B, Meppel 1971; State Teachers College, Meppel 1974; Masters in Educational Sciences University of Utrecht 1982; PhD, Dissertation on curriculum decision making in vocational education, University of Twente 1992

Career: Martin Mulder is currently Professor and Head of the Chair Group of Education and Competence Studies at Wageningen University. He began his career as an elementary school teacher and Vice-Director of De Werkhof elementary school, Werkhoven from 1974–79. Between 1980 and 1983 he was a curriculum developer and teacher trainer at the Teachers College in Nursing, Leusden, and a teacher trainer at the Teachers College in Utrecht 1981–82. From 1982 until 1984 he was Teacher in Research Methodology and Statistics at the College for Health Care, Leusden. Then he was appointed a VET expert at the Netherlands Organization for Teacher Training in Vocational and Technical Education in Ede from 1982–84. He joined the Department of Curriculum Technology in the Faculty of Educational Science and Technology at the University of Twente as Assistant Professor in 1984. He held the post of Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Organization and Management at the University of Twente from 1996–97 and was Associate Professor until 1998 when he was appointed Professor and Head of the Chair Group of Education and Competence Studies at Wageningen University. He was seconded as a National Expert at Cedefop, Area A (Research), Thessaloniki, Greece from 2004–05. Martin Mulder is Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Agricultural Education & Extension (see url below).

Honours and awards: Honorary Professor, Institute of Management and Economy, St Petersburg 1999, Honorary Scientist, Rural Development Agency, Seoul, Republic of Korea 2005; Training Award, Dutch Association of Training Professionals 1999

Publications include: Bedrijfsopleidingen in Nederland (co-author), Kantoor-automatisering, Corporate Training for Effective Performance, The Curriculum Conference, Strategic Human Resource Development, Scholing en opleiding voor het bedrijfsleven, Training in Business and Industry; numerous articles in professional journals

Contact details: Address: Chair Group of Education and Competence Studies, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, PO Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen, Netherlands ; Tel: +31 (0)317 484181; Fax: +31 (0)317 484573; Email: martin.mulder@wur.nl ; Website: http://www.ecs.wur.nl/ ; Website: http://www.mmulder.nl/ ; Website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/1389224X.asp/ .