About Us
Founded by the Rotterdam School of Management in 2018, the Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics (ECDA) is a flagship centre of excellence of Erasmus University Rotterdam on AI, data and digitalization. Bringing together academic experts, organisational leaders and students, the ECDA team and its community gives you access to world-class research, meaningful know-how, data analytics tools and a relevant network to boost your journey in the space of data analytics, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence. Our purpose is to facilitate the Erasmus University and its public and private partner organisations to prepare society for a data-driven future, hands-on and human-centred, towards a sustainable world.
ECDA's Purpose
Our purpose at ECDA is to explore data analytics, enhance data knowledge, and find business and societal uses for data analytics and AI to benefit from the digital transformation.
Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics (ECDA):
- Facilitates multi-disciplinary research and innovation based on 16 expert practices on data analytics and AI
- Offers infrastructure for data, analytics and AI in collaboration with tech partners
- Facilitates hands-on education to students and executives;
- Organizes top class-exclusive events, seminars and summits
- Offers a learning community among public and private organizations, academia and students
"You cannot look at data analytics in isolation anymore. It is not just influencing technology, operation management and marketing – it is redefining whole industries”

Gerrit Schipper
Executive Director, ECDA
Team
Academic Directors

Prof. Dr. Ting Li
Professor of Digital Business at RSM
Fields of expertise: digital strategy, e-commerce, digital platforms, business analytics, social media and mobile marketing, digital advertising, pricing and revenue management. Professor Li’s interdisciplinary research has been sponsored by multiple grants from the Dutch National Science Foundation (NWO) and multinational companies.

Prof. Dr. Gui Liberali
Professor of Digital Marketing at RSM
Fields of expertise: marketing analytics, machine learning, advertising analytics, optimal learning, multi-armed bandits, adaptive trials, online advertising, morphing theory and applications, and dynamic programming. Professor Liberali is also a researcher at the Erasmus Medical Center, developing methods for clinical trials.

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ketter
Professor of Next Generation Information Systems at RSM and University of Cologne
Fields of expertise: autonomous systems, energy and mobility, sustainable energy and digitalization using AI and ML. Prof. Ketter is also Director at the Erasmus Center for Future Energy Business, Professor at the University of Cologne, Director at the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne and Fellow and member of the Global Future Council on Mobility at the World Economic Forum.

Prof. Dr. Liesbet van Zoonen
Professor of Sociology & and Popular Culture at ESSB
Fields of expertise: data governance and management, particularly around the social, ethical and individual consequences of the urban data revolution for people in the city. Professor Van Zoonen is also Academic Director at the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for BOLD Cities and Dean at the Erasmus Graduate School Social Sciences and Humanities.

Dr. Robert Rooderkerk
Associate Professor of Operations Management at RSM, ECDA Lab Director of Retail Analytics, and Academic Director of the MScBA Business Analytics &Management at RSM
Fields of expertise: supply chain analytics, management of products and services lifecycle based on using data and analytics. His research addresses retail operations challenges on the marketing-operations interface, with an emphasis on omnichannel retail. He is particularly interested in research questions related to assortment, product lines, and fulfillment. His empirical work integrates insights from psychology and consumer behavior with advanced analytics that include Bayesian statistics, econometrics and operations research. His conceptual work focuses on how new technologies, data sources, advanced analytics, and business models are reshaping the global retail landscape.

Prof. Dr. Payal Arora
Professor of Technology, Value and Global Media Cultures at ESPhil
Fields of expertise: digital anthropology, bringing together tech platforms, digital marketeers, designers, think-tanks and digital anthropologists to venture into the understanding of user behaviour and motivations. Professor Arora is also Director of a digital activism organization, Catalyst Lab

Dr. Yashar Ghiassi-Farrokhfal
Assistant Professor of Technology and Operations Management at RSM
Fields of expertise: digital energy, wholesale and retail energy markets, energy system integrations, energy storage systems, smart charging and e-mobility, and city-wide energy planning. Also ivolved in the European project FlexSUS which aims at providing a decision support system for sustainable and efficient energy transitions for city planners.

Dr. Dion Bongaerts
Associate Professor of Finance at RSM
Fields of expertise: Fintech, Blockchain, high-frequency trading, credit rating agencies, pricing of credit risk, and market liquidity. Dr. Bongaerts was awarded several prestigious grants, including Veni and a Blockchain research grant from NWO.

Prof. Dr. Peter van der Spek
Professor of Pathology & Clinical Bioinformatics at EMC
Fields of expertise: Biological Studies, Computer Science, Information Engineering and mathematics and statistics to support the diagnostics of complex patients. Professor Van der Spek is also Visiting Professor at the University of Chulalongkorn Bangkok, Thailand

Prof. Dr. Klaus Heine
Professor of Law and Economics at ESL
Fields of expertise: legal consequences of technological disruption. Professor Heine is also the Director of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Digital Governance. He is also a member of the platform Learning Systems of the German government.

Prof. Dr. Rob Zuidwijk
Professor of Global Supply Chains and Ports at RSM
Fields of expertise: coordination for sustainable global supply chains, synchromodal transport networks and inter-organisational systems in logistics. Professor Zuidwijk is also Captain of Science of the Topsector Logistics in the Netherlands and ambassador Smart Logistics of SmartPort, a collaborative arrangement with the port community of Rotterdam.

Prof. Dr. Moniek Buijzen
Professor of Communication and Behavioural Change at ESSB
Fields of expertise: benefits of digital technology in a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, dissemination of health campaigns for youth and peer influencers in online social networks. Professor Buijzen also leads the NWO funded SocialMovez project.

Prof. Dr. Yvonne van Everdingen
Professor of Marketing and Innovation at RSM
Fields of expertise: marketing of new products, use of new technologies (VR, AR) for the development and launch of new products and consumer adoption of sustainable new products. She is also a member of the EUR Diversity Advisory Board of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, member of the Special Interest Group Virtual Reality at the Erasmus Behavioral Lab, member of the “Profgroep Onderwijs” of the MOA Expertise Center, and chair of the jury for the MOAward Insights Scientist of the Year.

Dr. Luca Berchicci
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and New Business Venturing at RSM
Fields of expertise: decision making in problem solving, firm’s capabilities building, (green) innovation and business models and machine learning algorithms for model uncertainty mapping. His primary interest lies at the intersection of strategy, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Prof. Dr. Dennis Fok
Professor of Econometrics and Data at ESE
Fields of expertise: econometrics, data science, machine learning, marketing, and high dimensional data. Professor Fok also advices companies and other organizations on research related issues. He is the director of the Econometric Institute and the Academic Director of the master in Business Analytics & Quantitative Marketing (specialization within the Econometrics and Management Science program).

Dr. Aurélie Lemmens
Associate Professor of Marketing Management at RSM
Fields of expertise: customer analytics, machine learning, causal interference, optimization of managerial decisions such as customer targeting. She is the author of the recently developed ProfitBoost algorithm to optimize customer retention campaigns. Dr. Lemmens was awarded several prestigious grants, including a Marie Curie from the European Research Council, a Veni and a Vidi grant from NWO.

Prof. Wiro Niessen
Full professor in Biomedical Image Analysis and ML at EMC
Fields of expertise: development, validation and implementation of quantitative image analysis methods in clinical practice and biomedical research, linking imaging to genetics data, radio(geno)mics, and image-guided interventions.