Nathan Nathan van Beelen
Software Engineer at Sopra Steria | Interested in Sensors and ML/DL
I absolutely love programming—turning ideas into reality with nothing but logic and a keyboard still feels like magic. My journey started with Software Engineering but quickly expanded into Artificial Intelligence, where I explored how code interacts with the brain, processing neural signals and modeling cognition. Neuroengineering in Munich deepened this passion, leading to projects like brain-controlled robots and motion-driven interfaces. Now, as an Associate Developer at Sopra Steria Current Software Solutions, I’m refining my software engineering skills—while also mastering German! When I’m not coding, you’ll find me exploring nature, the Alps, or diving into endless curiosities like history, archaeology, languages, and engineering. Curiosity keeps me moving, whether it’s a challenging problem, a new skill, or an adventure outdoors!
Projects
April 2025 - June 2025
Munich, DE
Building a RAG implementation for QA of company-internal documents
Sopra Steria Custom Software Solutions
This project was aimed at building a Retrieval-Augmented Generation application, that could be shown as a demo to clients. The client allows users to select documents for ingestion. After ingestion, the user can then send queries, and the RAG model answers these queries using the information contained in the documents.
March 2023 - June 2024
Munich, DE
Comparative analysis of zebrafish behaviour with end-to-end learning
Portugus Lab, TUM
This project aimed to assist in finding quantifiable differences of zebrafish larval behaviour between two conditions using Deep Learning. This was done by first training a Convolutional Neural Network model on the behavioural data, and by developing tools that visualise and explain the differences that the model found during training.
October 2023 - May 2024
Munich, DE
Building a microscope for simultaneous imaging and precise optogenetic activation
Portugues Lab, TUM
This project was aimed at building an experimental setup that allows for simultaneous imaging of the zebrafish larvae brain as well as stimulating specific areas using an optogenetic activator. The imaging was done using a light-sheet optical microscope, which allowed for getting a 3D scan of the brain at 2Hz by slicing the brain into numerous slices and taking 2D images. Stimulation of the brain was implemented using a Spatial Light Modulator that is able to reflect light and focus it onto a specific spot in 3D space using digital holography.
September 2022 - March 2023
Munich, DE
Processing of EEG and IMU sensor time data for intention recognition
Institute for Cognitive Systems, TUM
The aim of this project was to support the often difficult classification of EEG data with IMU data in order to facilitate the collection of EEG training data. In addition, a game was developed to demonstrate the application possibilities and the ability to process the data in real time.
March 2022 - June 2022
Munich, DE
Creating an EEG-steered Piano Tiles game
Institute for Cognitive Systems, TUM
In this project we created a game like Piano Tiles, where the user had to jump between lanes at the correct times to keep playing. The catch was, that this had to be done by modulating your brain activity, such that it can be picked up by the EEG and decoded. The idea behind this project was to find a more enjoyable way of EEG data collection.
October 2021 - March 2023
Munich, DE
Development of a live object-tracking system
Portugues Lab, TUM
The aim of the project was to set up a system that tracks a zebrafish from a close distance with a camera while it moves in its arena. This required a high performance detection algorithm for the camera images and the control of linear motors.
October 2021 - March 2022
Munich, DE
Translating gestures into discrete vibrotactile signals
Msc. Neuroengineering, TUM
This project was aimed at getting hands-on experience with signal processing, effective information transferring, and Arduino. The challenge was to setup the most effective (in terms of the amount of information transfered per second) system of one-way communication between two people. The constraints were that the input had to be real-world gestures for encoding, and the output had to be a number of vibrotactile motors for decoding.
February 2020 - August 2020
Groningen, NL
Evaluating inter-brain synchrony during (dis)agreement in monastic debate
Bsc. Artificial Intelligence, University of Groningen
In my thesis, I quantified the inter-brain synchrony during moments of agreement and disagreement between Tibetan monks during monastic debate. This was done by measuring the EEG signals of both monks simultaneously and annotating camera footage for agreement or disagreement. The moments of agreement and disagreement were quantified in two ways: first a statistical test was done to see if there was a significant difference in synchrony. Then I explored whether it was possible to predict agreement or disagreement on a single-sample basis using machine learning techniques.
January 2020 - June 2020
Groningen, NL
Modelling of fMRI-experiment efficiency
Visual Neuroscience Group, University of Groningen
The aim of the project is to develop a program that models the efficiency of an experiment so that researchers can estimate how effective their experiment would be and what could be changed to make it more effective.
Last ~7 years
Setting up and maintaining a Linux server
Personal Project
For the last 7 or so years, I have always had some form of Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) server running. Whether that was a simple Desktop Linux on an old laptop, manually-build Linux on a single board computer, or a VPS. Over the years I have used it for several purposes, such as email, messaging, web (like the page you're looking at right now), file synchronisation, backups, and cloud services.
March 2017 - October 2018
Development of a Movie/Series tracking Android App
Personal Project
This project came forth out of a desire to put the skills that I had acquired in Software Engineering to practice and at the same time, the need I felt to keep track of all the movies and series that I was watching. Therefore, I decided to create my own Android App that allows one to browse through a collection of movies and series, pick the ones to keep track of, and save them to a local database, with perhaps a couple of personal attributes to keep track of (i.e. rating).
June 2016 - September 2016
Assen, NL
Development of the Back-End of a quiz web application
IPMarketing
The goal of the project was to develop a first concept for a business idea of developing a quiz web application.
September 2015 - June 2016
Assen, NL
Development of the Android and iOS Front-End
IPMarketing
There was a need for mobile versions of the already existing web application. I was responsible for writing the Android and iOS applications and connecting them to the database.
Education
September 2017 - September 2020
Bsc. Artificial Intelligence
University of Groningen
GPA: 7.6
Thesis topic: Inter-brain synchrony during (dis)agreement in monastic debate.
November 2020 - July 2024
Elite Msc. Neuroengineering
Technical University of Munich
GPA: 8.5
Thesis topic: comparative analysis of zebrafish behavior with end-to-end learning.
September 2016 - September 2017
Prop. Software Engineering
Hanze University of Applied Sciences
GPA: 8
Publications and Awards
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Co-Author in Paper Publication: "A behavioral setup for capturing fine grained coordinated movements of zebrafish larvae"
Preprint Published on Zenodo; March 2025 -
Poster Presentation: "Deep Learning-Guided Analysis of Larval Zebrafish Behavior"
Presented at Bernstein Conference 2023 -
Hackathon: 2nd place with the topic "Flex-Schedule: Dynamic Waiting Lists for Hospital Appointments"
Healthcare Hackathon Bayern 2024
Skills
Programming languages
Tools
Languages
Native
Business fluent
Proficient
Basic