Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Jan Theeuwes (PhD 1992, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) worked at the TNO Human Factors Institute in the traffic behavior group conducting human factors research for various national and international government agencies, and automotive companies. In 1999 he became a full professor at the VU Amsterdam, where he built a new research group. He developed a new approach to road design known as “Self-Explaining Roads”, indicating that roads should be designed in such a way that road users immediately know how to behave and what to expect on these roads (Theeuwes & Godthelp, 1995). This notion became the leading principle in road design worldwide. He was one of the authors of a book called “Designing Safe Road Systems” (Theeuwes et al., 2012), which is used as a handbook at many DOTs worldwide. Jan Theeuwes has been a principal advisor to the Dutch Department of Transportation (DOT/RWS) on road design issues. In 2010 he was elected member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science (KNAW). He received two European Research Council (ERC) advanced grants of 2.5 million euro each (2012-2019). His basic and applied research has had a large impact on the research community (H-index 91; > 38000 citations).
