Drs. Leonardus Albertus (Léon) van Gulik was born in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands, on January 16th, 1974. During his study he published twice (in 1998 en 2000) in the Dutch popular science journal ‘Prana’, before obtaining his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Radboud University, Nijmegen, with his thesis ‘Monologues, Dialogues, and a Diatribe Amongst an Amalgamate of Selves and Psychologies’, a critical analysis of the Dialogical Self Theory.
As a part of his internship during the master’s phase of his study, he spent a period at Clark University, Worcester, USA, visiting Prof. dr. Jaan Valsiner. He graduated (MSc summa cum laude) in 2006 the field of Psychology of Culture and Religion at Radboud University Nijmegen. In his Master thesis ‘On the Descent of the Man-Made Part of the Environment’, advised by Dr. Cor van Halen, he outlined commonalities between cultural psychology and evolutionary thinking, advancing an ecological approach to cultural transmission.
Having been employed part-time during his study as an assistant (2001-2006), he secured a position as a tutor (2006-2008) at his alma mater where he is now part-time employed as a lecturer offering the courses ‘Psychology of Morality’ (in part), and ‘Psychology of Magic’, and advising bachelor theses for both Developmental Psychology and Cultural Psychology and Psychology of Religion students. His scholarly interests range from mysticism, ecological psychology, creativity, paganism, magical thinking, to cultural transmission and spatial aesthetics.