Henk van Rinsum has worked at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences since 2001 as Head of the Research Support Office and Executive Secretary of the Faculty Board. He was also Secretary of the Graduate School of Social and Behavioural Sciences.

Until 2001, he worked at the central level of the University, first in the International Office, where he was responsible for the University's development cooperation, and later in the University's Research Policy Department. Through his years in the International Office and his many trips to Africa in particular, he has always been fascinated by the University's 'colonial' past. He has published on this subject. In 2006 he published Sol Iustitae and the Cape on the history of the University of Utrecht's relations with South Africa.

He has recently published a comprehensive study of the work and influence of the professor of Oriental languages, Adrianus Relandus (1676-1718), The Orient in Utrecht. In 1705, this professor published De Religione Mohammedica, a book on Islam, still regarded as a turning point in the Western understanding of Islam. The publication is open access and available on the Brill website.

He completed a publication on the colonial past of Utrecht University. It was presented to the Rector Magnificus in the Aula on 30 October 2023. In October 2024, an English translation will be published as an open access publication: Utrecht University and Colonial Knowledge; Exploration, Exploitation and the Civilising Mission since 1636.

From 1 April 2021 to 1 April 2024 he was a research fellow at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, at CREST and the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in STI Policy. Together with his colleague em. prof. Jan Botha, he is working on a book on the institutional history of the University of Stellenbosch since 1919, based on biographies of honorary degree recipients from SUN.