Tom studied History at Leiden University, where he obtained his master’s degree in Maritime History after finishing a thesis on the shipping network of the Dutch East India Company in Asia (c. 1680-1700). From 2017 until 2019 he worked for the Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands as a research assistant on various projects. In 2018 he made an online exhibition on the VOC-ship Rooswijk, commissioned by the National Cultural Heritage Agency. Since 2017 he has also been working for the Leiden University Libraries, initially on archives relating to Indonesia and in 2019-2020 on the archive of author, sculptor and painter Jan Wolkers (1925-2007).