Van der Windt studied biology at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the 1970s and received his doctorate in 1995 with his Doctor of Philosophy dissertation "En dan: wat is natuur nog in dit land?: natuurbescherming in Nederland 1880-1990", (After all, what is nature in this country, nature conservation in the Netherlands 1980-1990, with a chapter on the management of the Wadden Sea.
After his study he worked as a junior scientist and lecturer at the faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Biology Department, Science & Society section at the University of Groningen. After his doctorate, he worked several years as a researcher (post-doc) in Groningen within the Ethics and Policy research programme. Around 2000 he became assistant professor and soon associate professor at the Science & Society Group of the University of Groningen, researching science-society interactions concerning genomics, food, ecological restoration, energy and sustainability.
