Tim van der Heijden (Nijmegen, 1984) is a media historian and theorist. He currently works as an assistant professor at the Open University of the Netherlands. He holds a PhD degree in Media History from Maastricht University, a research-master’s degree in Media Studies (cum laude) from the University of Amsterdam, and a BA in Cultural Studies from Erasmus University Rotterdam.
He wrote his PhD dissertation Hybrid Histories: Technologies of Memory and the Cultural Dynamics of Home Movies, 1895-2005 at the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at Maastricht University, the Netherlands. This study, part of the NWO-funded research project “Changing Platforms of Ritualized Memory Practices: The Cultural Dynamics of Home Movies,” investigates the relation between changing amateur media technologies (film, video, digital media) and memory practices in home movie making and screening from a long durée and user generations perspective. Between 2017-2021, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH) of the University of Luxembourg within the research projects “Doing Experimental Media Archaeology: Practice & Theory (DEMA)” and “Digital History and Hermeneutics (DTU-DHH)“.
Besides his research and teaching activities, he is a board member of Stichting Amateurfilm, a foundation which aims to stimulate the collection, preservation and re(use) of amateur film material and to arouse public interest in both historical and modern day forms of amateur film production. In his spare time, he likes to make video portraits and take (analogue) photographs.
CV
EXPERIENCE
2021-present Assistant professor, Faculty of Humanities, Open University of the Netherlands
2019-2021 Postdoctoral researcher “Doing Experimental Media Archaeology: Practice & Theory”, Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH), University of Luxembourg
2017-2019 Postdoctoral researcher and coordinator Doctoral Training Unit “Digital History & Hermeneutics”, Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C2DH), University of Luxembourg
2012-2017 PhD-researcher, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Maastricht University
2016 Workshop Host Video Support, EDLAB Maastricht University
2016 Project assistent, Limburgs Museum, Venlo
2012-2016 Lecturer/tutor/course coordinator Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Maastricht University
2013-present board member, Stichting Amateurfilm
2009-2011 Project assistant grant applications, Media Fund, Amsterdam
2008 Study trainer, University of Amsterdam
EDUCATION
2012-2017 PhD Media History, Maastricht University, the Netherlands
2015 BKO, University Teaching Certificate, Maastricht University, the Netherlands
2012-2015 RMeS, National Graduate Research School for Media Studies
2011 Open Studio Amsterdam, video production
2006-2009 RMA Media Studies (cum laude), Universiteit van Amsterdam
2006 Erasmus Exchange Program, University of Essex
2003-2006 BA Cultural Studies, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
