Arjan started his study of History in 2007 at the University of Utrecht, where he gained his Bachelor in 2011. During his Bachelor, he also studied at the Freie Universität Berlin through the European Erasmus program. Back in the Netherlands, Arjan proceeded with the Master International Relations in Historical Perspective at the University of Utrecht and gained an eye for the history of intoxicants and drug policy.
Since January 2016, Arjan is part of the Imperative of Regulation project in which his research focus is on local drug practices and local drug policies in the Netherlands since the Second World War. His research shows how different Dutch cities dealt with emerging drug use in their own pace and how many elements of Dutch drug policy were created and contested from bottom-up.