Eugene van Erven holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Vanderbilt University (1985, US). He has worked at Victoria University in Wellington (New Zealand) and at Utrecht University (Humanities, University College), where he has taught literature, drama and community arts courses. Between 2004 and 2006 he conducted oral history research and taught at the IPA Teachers Training College on the Caribbean island of Aruba. He returned to Utrecht University in September 2006, teaching in the Media and Culture studies department. Between 2005 and 2014 Eugene worked 'on loan' for the Community Art Lab of the Peace Treaty of Utrecht. Between 2009 and 2021 he also worked 'on loan' as artistic director of the International Community Arts Festival in Rotterdam (www.icafrotterdam.com). On July 1 2015, Eugene was appointed Professor of Media, Performance and the City. Part of his task was to stimulate academic discourse on participation in the arts and to foster sustainable partnerships between Media and Culture Studies and professionals in the culture and media sector. On 1 September 2015 he became Head of of the Media and Culture Studies Department. He retired in June 2021.

His most important books are: Radical People's Theatre (Indiana University Press, 1988), The Playful Revolution: Theatre and Liberation in Asia (Indiana 1992), and Community Theatre: Global Perspectives (Routledge 2001). In January 2011, he published the book and video, Living With Differences: Young Theatre Makers Searching for Themselves as Artists in Neighborhoods (in Dutch only, International Film and Theatre Books). His most recent works are the book and video packages The Way We Move-ICAF 7 (Charnwood Arts 2018), ICAF in the Picture (RWT 2015), Community Art Power: Essays from ICAF 2011 (RWT, 2013) and Community Arts Dialogues (Treaty of Utrecht, 2013).