Roeland Paardekooper has been working in the field of archaeological reconstructions and open-air museums since 1981. After being involved as a volunteer in the Dutch Youth Association for History and its workgroup for experimental archaeology he studied prehistoric archaeology of Europe at Leiden University (NL).
In 1998 he graduated with a thesis on modern ship reconstructions of the medieval Hanse Association. He worked both with archaeological education and archaeological tourism over the years and got ever more attracted to solutions across Europe for reaching out to the public.
In 2001, this led to his involvement as one of the founders of EXARC, of which he has been Director since. From 1996 to 2007, he was an active board member of the Dutch network on archaeological experiments and education for which he organised several field trips across Europe.
In 2007, he started his own company in consultancy for public archaeology, Archeo Interface.
2006-2009, he was one of the coordinators of liveARCH, a European project focused on the professionalisation of eight archaeological open-air museums, which originate from EXARC.
2011-2012, he was Operational manager of OpenArch.
In 2012, he attained his PhD at Exeter (UK) into archaeological open-air museums - bridging between science and the public. He is currently an honorary research fellow in Exeter.
2013-2016, he was Director of the Archäologisches Freilichtmuseum Oerlinghausen (Germany).
