Maarten Kunst is a professor of Criminology at the Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology. From November 1, 2020, to November 1, 2025, Maarten chaired the Criminology Department. Prior to that, he was director of the criminology programs for over three years and a member of various examination committees. He is currently one of the 'leaders' of the university profile theme 'Safety and cybersecurity'.

More information about Maarten Kunst

Maarten Kunst (Oudenbosch, 1978) studied Dutch Law at the Catholic University of Brabant, where he graduated in 2001 with a specialization in criminal law. He subsequently worked for almost four years as a lawyer at the Employee Insurance Agency. He combined this with studies in Psychology at Tilburg University. In 2006, he completed his Master's degree in Psychology and Mental Health with honors. In September 2006, he joined the International Victimology Institute Tilburg as a PhD candidate/researcher.
In May 2010, he obtained his PhD with a dissertation entitled "The Burden of Interpersonal Violence: Examining the Psychosocial Aftermath of Victimization." In this dissertation, he reports on a (partially longitudinal) study of the psychological and social consequences of interpersonal violence among victims who filed a claim with the Victims of Violent Crimes Compensation Fund in 2006. Since 2010, he has worked at the Institute for Criminal Law and Criminology. In 2020, he and colleagues in the field founded the knowledge network "Victimology in the Netherlands" (ViNe).

Research

In recent years, Maarten has conducted extensive research on the experiences of victims of crime in criminal proceedings and the impact these experiences have on their processing of the crime. He has also conducted extensive research into the influence of victims and their psychological complaints on the course of criminal and other legal proceedings. His current research focuses on the history of legal provisions for victims of crime and the victim experiences of perpetrators.

Education

He provides regular and (external) education on trauma-informed practice for professionals who interact with victims and survivors of crime in their daily work. He has co-authored several textbooks and handbooks.

Publications