Dr. Maren Thomsen

Maren Thomsen, PhD has been a project leader and senior researcher at FiBS since April 2018. In February 2018 she received her PhD in education from the University of Amsterdam, where she was employed as researcher. From 2007 to 2015, she worked as a researcher at the Research Institute of Vocational Education (Expertisecentrum Beroepsonderwijs) in the Netherlands. Before that she worked as a statistician and a freelance researcher. She received her Master in Social and Behavioral Sciences at Tilburg University.

Her areas of specialization include vocational education, teacher and school development, and school management. She has conducted and led studies to analyze, evaluate, and develop governance guidelines for school management, professionalization of, and collaboration among vocational school teachers and regional public-private partnerships in the field of vocational education. Her dissertation dealt with the topic of structural characteristics (like human resource management) at vocational schools and their influence on collaboration, trust, and engagement among faculty. She has excellent knowledge of various qualitative and quantitative statistical methods of empirical social research, with a focus on structural equation modeling.

Maren Thomsen has a proven record of publication, has presented at international congresses, and has taught courses and workshops. In 2011/2012 she was a member of the Commission for Education of the Interuniversity Center for Educational Research. In addition to her native language of German, she speaks fluent English and Dutch.