Dr. Rense Corten is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology. He obtained his PhD in social sciences in 2009 and his doctorate in sociology in 2004 at Utrecht University. He became a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University (2009–2010); Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, Stanford University (2010–2011); a Researcher at the Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University (2011-2012); Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology, Tilburg University (2012-2013); and Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University (2013-2017). His research revolves around the themes of cooperation, trust, and (the dynamics of) social networks, with empirical applications including adolescent networks, social media, the sharing economy, online criminal networks, and laboratory experiments. In 2016, he received an NWO Vidi grant for a research project on the origins and consequences of trust in the sharing economy.