Erik Meijer is a PhD candidate at the Amsterdam School for Historical Studies. After obtaining a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree at the University of Groningen and working both as a lawyer at a major Dutch law firm and subsequently as a policy advisor for the City of Amsterdam, he completed a master's degree in International Relations at Webster University. Since then his research focus has become the study of naval and maritime strategy in a historical context. His supervisor is Prof. dr. Wim Klinkert, until recently Professor of Military History at the University of Amsterdam and at the Netherlands Defence Academy. Acting as co-supervisor is dr. Anita van Dissel, Senior University Lecturer at the Institute for History at Leiden University.

His research concerns the fleet plans of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNN) during and immediately after the Second World War (until 1950). The expansion of the Dutch fleet was based on a fleet plan that had been adopted in its final form in 1949. The proposed 1949 fleet was an expression of a new naval strategic concept. This transformation of Dutch seapower was not only the result of the developments in naval warfare produced by the Second World War but also the influence of naval strategic thought on Dutch naval policy. 
This project explores the aforementioned fleet plans in light of naval strategic ideas. By addressing the shaping role of strategic ideas and how these were inspired, institutionalised and implemented by key individuals ('agents') within the RNN, this research highlights the impact of organisational culture on force structure choices in the period between 1939 and 1949 and in general, on such choices within military organisations. 

• Vijf eeuwen Nederlandse sea power, Militaire Spectator, 2013, nr. 11.
• Een nieuwe koers voor de Japan Maritime Self Defense Force, Militaire Spectator, 2014, nr. 6.
• De Koninklijke Marine in 2040: de 'Fisher Touch'?, Marineblad, 2014, nr. 8.