Born and raised in Amsterdam, Mellenbergh received his Master of Arts in psychology from the University of Amsterdam in 1965, and his Doctor of Philosophy in psychology in 1971 under the supervision of Professor Adriaan de Groot with a dissertation about educational tests, entitled "Studies in studietoetsen" (Studies on educational tests).
In 1965 Mellenbergh started his academic career as Assistant professor Psychological Methods at the University of Amsterdam. Late 1969 he was visiting research assistant at the University of Chicago, studying educational methods. From 1975 to 1978 he was Associate professor Psychometrics at the University of Utrecht, and then returned to the University of Amsterdam where he was Professor, Psychological Methods from 1982 to 2003.
In 1991 and 1993 he had been Visiting professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Mellenbergh performed many administrative functions in Dutch research institutes, is member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) since 1993, the Psychometric Society, the American Psychological Association (APA), the International Statistical Institute (Inter-Services Intelligence), and the Interuniversity Graduate School of Psychometrics and Sociometrics (IOPS).
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]
And Mellenbergh was editor at Psychometrika, on the editorial Board of Psychological Methods and member of the editorial council of Psicothema.
