I am Martijn Grooten, a Dutch passport holder based in Europe. I currently work as a consultant on digital security on various projects and am also engaged in pro-bono work supporting vulnerable groups and people.
Between 2007 and 2019, I worked at Virus Bulletin in the United Kingdom, where I was web developer, anti-spam test director and most recently Editor. I organized the annual Virus Bulletin Conference, a leading global threat intelligence event, and oversaw the company’s product testing.
Before that, I worked as a junior researcher in pure mathematics (algebraic geometry) at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. I published one scientific paper. I hold an M.Sc. degree in mathematics from the same university. My M.Sc. thesis was awarded the University Prize in 2002. I was a student member of the faculty council for one year and both secretary and chair of the students’ association for mathematics.
In my free time, I enjoy running, cooking and reading (literary fiction, non-fiction and poetry). I care about social justice and civil liberties. In both my work and my life, I support the guiding principles of Kim Crayton’s #AntiRacistEconomist.
About my name
Contrary to popular belief, the ‘j’ in my first name isn’t there for decoration. The ‘ij’ is actually a Dutch digraph and my first name more or less rhymes to wine in English, with the emphasis on the second syllable. The ‘g’ in my surname is guttural, but the most important thing is that the ‘oo’ is like the ‘oa’ in boat, not like the ‘oo’ in boot.
Here is an mp3 of me pronouncing my own name.
Contact
Email is the best way to reach me: martijn at lapsedordinary.net. I use various messaging apps including Signal, WhatsApp and Wire (contact me through another channel for details) and also accept messages on Twitter or LinkedIn.