Margriet van der Heijden was trained as a particle physicist and obtained a PhD in particle physics (for research at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, CERN) from the University of Amsterdam. After working as a postdoc for a couple of years she turned to science journalism. She has extensive experience in portraying and explaining the importance of science to the general public in the Netherlands and has, amongst others, been editor-in-chief of Hoe?Zo! Radio, president of the Dutch Association of Science Journalists, lecturer at Stichting Cursussen Wetenschapscorrespondentie and, for many years,  the science editor of the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad.

Van der Heijden wrote several non-fiction children’s book and a double biography of Tatiana Afanassjewa and Paul Ehrenfest, Denken is verrukkelijk, that was shortlisted for the Libris Geschiedenis Prijs 2021.

She combines her work at AUC with a position as extraordinary professor in Science Communication at the Faculty of Applied Physics of Eindhoven University of Technology.