Patrick Hochstenbach Email & Phone Number

In 1996 I graduated from the University of Nijmegen (currently Radboud University) with a degree in physics, specialised in theoretical high-energy physics, waiting to start a PhD. My Belgian girlfriend (currently my wife) suggested to take in the meantime a job near to her home. There was a position open for a programmer at Ghent University Library. I applied and got the job and entered a new field. An environment where librarians such as Herbert Van de Sompel were redefining how digital libraries should work. I participated in his research and wrote the first SFX server for his PhD research, providing seamless access to full text for researchers worldwide. The software was a hit and sold to Ex Libris who sells SFX worldwide to academic libraries. Before I knew what happened my physics plans were changed into library research plans. I visited libraries worldwide to explain SFX and found myself working for the Los Alamos National Laboratory for a few year to continue programming for research projects. After returning to Europe, I worked for Lund University for a few years from Belgium, creating full text search engines. In de late 2000-s I got a permanent position at Ghent University Library IT department where I created search engines, digital preservation solutions, data analytics software and a depot management system. In 2021, I was 25 years in the library field, became 50 years old, and still without PhD. IDLab and Ghent University Library provided me the great opportunity to start a PhD research in computer science on applying decentralised web techniques on scholarly communication. And this is where I am now.

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  Radboud University Nijmegen

  Theoretical And Mathematical Physics