General:

• Physical aspects of tectonic processes, in general, and of plate tectonics, in particular; 

More specific: 

• dynamics of the lithosphere, stress field in and deformation of the lithosphere (including seismicity), thermo-mechanical evolution of the lithosphere and upper mantle; 
• plate boundary processes, in particular the subduction process; 
• tectonic processes along convergent plate boundaries, relationship between processes in the lithosphere and upper mantle and geological/magmatic processes at or near the surface (“depth-surface relations”); 
• the geodynamical evolution of the Mediterranean region and other convergent plate boundary regions (e.g. Tethyan suture zone, Caribbean region).

Principal characteristics of the research are: integration of numerical models for dynamic processes in the lithosphere and upper mantle with geological, geophysical (in particular seismological) and geodetic observations.

Awards

• Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)
• Member of the Academia Europea
• Royal Dutch Shell Prize 1982, jointly with N.J. Vlaar
• Stephan Mueller Medal 2000 (awarded by the European Geophysical Society)
• van Waterschoot van der Gracht Medal 2011 (KNGMG)
• Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion, 2012