Thijs obtained his BSc (2023, cum laude) and MSc degrees (2026, cum laude) in chemistry at the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (joint degree). During his bachelor’s, he completed the extracurricular honours programme and won the Amcel BSc thesis award (2023) for his work on electrocatalytic C—N bond formation in the group of dr. Amanda Garcia. During his master’s he was selected for the HRSMC class of excellence programme and won its research proposal pitch prize. Minor research projects were performed on the synthesis and characterization of helicene para-phenylenes in the group of dr. Tomáš Šolomek at the University of Amsterdam and on DFT studies of glycosylation reactions in the group of prof. dr. Jeroen Codée at Leiden University. His master project was conducted in the group of dr. Tati Fernández Ibáñez at the University of Amsterdam and focussed on the development and mechanistic investigation of Pd/S,O-ligand catalyzed C—H functionalization reactions.

Since May 2026, Thijs is a PhD candidate in the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry at Wageningen University & Research under the supervision of Prof. Han Zuilhof en dr. Eva Meeus. His project is in collaboration with Wetsus – European Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology and focusses on the design, synthesis and characterization of functionalized pillararenes for the capture, release and destruction of short-chain PFAS. This project aims to contribute to the removal of such persistent and toxic chemicals from surface- and drinking water, which is a critical challenge for environmental and public health.