Jan van Driel

Career
After obtaining a Master’s degree in chemistry (1984), I worked as a teacher of chemistry in a secondary school. In the same period, I started to work on a PhD thesis at Utrecht University, which focused on the teaching and learning of chemical equilibrium.

After this was finished (in 1990), I moved to the educational development department of Delft University of Technology as a teacher trainer and educational consultant. From 1995-2016, I have worked at ICLON – Leiden University Graduate School of Teaching; in 2006 I became a full professor of science education. From 2010-2016, I was the director of ICLON. In 2016, I moved to the University of Melbourne as a professor of science education. I was Associate Dean-Research from 2017-2019. Currently, I am the leader of the Mathematics, Science & Technology Education Group (MSTEG).

Research
As a researcher, I have developed a strong international profile in the domain of science education. In addition, I have also done substantial research in the domains of teaching & teacher education, and higher education. In all of these three domains, I have supervised PhD students, and published in the respective top journals. I am being regarded as one of the leading scholars in the world in research on science teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). I have published several highly cited articles about this topic, and have been invited to give talks and workshops about this topic all over the world. Currently, I am co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Science Education. In addition, I have been and am a member of the editorial boards of a range of (inter-)national scholarly journals (e.g., Science Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Journal of Teacher Education, Review of Educational Research). My view is that an educational researcher should be engaged in issues of practice and policy. Therefore, I have published since 1987 in professional journals for science teachers, teacher educators and consultants. In addition, I continue to give lectures and keynotes at conferences for teachers, teacher educators, and at schools.

Teaching
My teaching experience is very varied in terms of the topics I taught (from chemistry to research methods in education) and the target groups (from secondary students to university professors). I have designed, taught, and coordinated several courses and workshops for PhD students. I am particularly proud of the national award Supervisor of the Year 2008, which was granted to me by the Association of PhD candidates of the Netherlands Educational Research Association (NERA). At MGSE I am teaching about interdisciplinary approaches to science education. I am a member of the team that designs and delivers the Primary Mathematics and Science Specialists program of the Victorian Dept. of Education.

Service
My service for the professional community includes being the secretary and, after that, vice-president of the Netherlands Educational Research Association (NERA) from 2001-2009. From 2009-2012, I was a Member of the Board of Directors of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST). From 2012-2014, I was chair of the board of the Dutch interuniversity research school for educational sciences ICO. Furthermore, I was chair of the ICL (Interuniversity centre for teacher education; Netherlands; 2014-2016) and secretary of the board of the Technasium foundation (Netherlands, 2012-2016).
Currently, I am a member of the Education Committee of the Australian Academy of Science and of the Advisory board of GTAC (Gene Technology Access Centre). Also, I am on the executive board of the Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA).