Since the 1980s he has been conducting research in various Latin American countries on themes such as regional development, ethnicity, social exclusion, social movements and democratisation. Currently he is working on two books: one on citizenship and social mobilisation in democratic Brazil; another on conflict and peace efforts in Colombia. He has received research grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and has been a fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS) in Wassenaar (1998/1999), the interuniversitary Center for Study and Documentation of Latin America (CEDLA) in Amsterdam (2000), and the Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) in Rio de Janeiro (2009). He sat on the board of the Netherlands Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (NALACS). He has been a frequent advisor to Dutch governmental, non-governmental and international policy agencies in the field of international co-operation. He has been member of a number of advisory bodies, among which the Advisory Council of the Latin American Film Festival (LAFF).