Stijn van Kessel joined Loughborough in October 2012. Between October 2013 and September 2015 he carried out a research project at the Institut für Deutsches und Internationales Parteienrecht und Parteienforschung (PRuF) at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf. This project was funded through a postdoctoral fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. After having completed a BSc (2005) and MSc (2006, 'cum laude') in Political Science at the VU University Amsterdam, Stijn defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Sussex in November 2011. Subsequently, he has been visiting lecturer at the Radboud University Nijmegen and the VU University Amsterdam.