ECOSTAT is founded in 1998 by Dr. Nelly van der Hoeven. She is a mathematical biologist with broad experience in the statistical analysis and evaluation of biological research.

In addition to her work for ECOSTAT, Nelly van der Hoeven is guest staff member of the Department of Theoretical and Evolutionary Biology of Leiden University.

Previously, she has been scientist in the field of ecotoxicology and mathematical biology at the TNO Institute of Environmental Sciences (1985-1995).

She is a leading expert in statistics in ecotoxicology. In this field, she has many publications. She is president of the Netherlands Working Group on Statistics and Ecotoxicology and has been board member of the Biometric section of the Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operational Research (VVS) and the Netherlands section of the International Biometric Society from 2001 to 2007. She has organized several symposia on statistics in ecotoxicology.