Rikkert studied mathematics in Nijmegen, specializing in algebraic topology. He subsequently followed the postmaster program Mathematics for Industry at the Technical University Eindhoven, during which he became acquainted with signal processing. He continued in this direction and obtained his PhD from the VU Amsterdam, working on the statistical analysis of electrophysiological brain signals. He held postdoctoral positions at the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology of the Technical University Twente and at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona in the group of Gustavo Deco, where he worked on computational modeling and analysis of electrophysiological and functional MRI signals. Currently he is an assistant professor at the Department of Mathematics at the VU Amsterdam.
Research focus
Rikkert's interests include inference of statistical dependencies in neuroimaging data using generalized multivariate models and methods from information theory, classical invariant theory, and differential geometry.