As of January 2022, Martin Damen (54) will start as the new director of SWOV – Institute for Road Safety Research, succeeding Peter van der Knaap, who became director of the International Research & Policy Evaluation Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Damen is currently a member of the board of the Dutch company RIGO Research en Advies BV. RIGO conducts policy research at local, regional and national level in the field of housing and quality of life and supports authorities and corporations in developing policy. Damen studied computer science at the University of Amsterdam.
Background
Since 1991, Martin Damen has worked at RIGO as a policy researcher and project leader, including 8 years as general manager. At RIGO, Damen has gained ample experience as a researcher in connecting qualitative research results with more quantitative and analytical studies and subsequently helping clients interpret the results in order to take better informed decisions.
In addition to his work at RIGO, Damen has been a board member and chairman of the industry association for policy research agencies (vereniging voor beleidsonderzoek; VBO). In this role, he was committed to enhance the knowledge infrastructure (agencies, universities and research institutes) with the aim of ensuring the independence and objectivity of research and advice.
