Dr. Pien Versteegh has written her thesis on Polish miners in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands studying their position on the labor market and in the society in the period of 1920-1930. Her postdoctoral work compares Polish migrants in Germany and the United States focusing on mobility, migrants’ coping strategies, gender, and the second generation. She has received grants from the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the Dutch Research Council. She has had several positions at Dutch universities and  most recently served as the Dean of Avans School of International Studies at the Avans University of Applied Sciences in Breda, the Netherlands. Her involvement with PAHA has started in 2001 and she is the executive director since 2008.