Volker Nannen received his PhD from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2009. In his thesis, he explored the use of agent-based simulations for public policy analysis, specificially public policies that stimulate technological change. In the process, he developed a computational method to quickly identify and calibrate parameters that are relevant to the stability of a complex evolutionary simulation. For this, he won a best paper award at the 2006 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference in Seattle.

Since 2012, he is the scientific director of sedewa.com, a Spanish startup to develop an efficient drive technology for sustainable soil management and, because of interest from NASA, for planetary exploration.

Since 2021, he is the scientific director of Applied Biosignals GmbH, a leading company in the field of neonathal emergency care.

From 2006 to 2010, he worked on the propagation of financial risk in a national trade network in collaboration with researchers from the Intessa Sanpaolo banking group in Italy. The work was carried out at the Institute of Scientific Interchange in Turin, Italy, and at the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Phsyics and Complex Systems in Palma, Spain. 

From 2011 to 2018, he worked in autonomous underwater robotics and autonomous agricultural robotics for the universities of the Balears and Girona in Spain, and the university of Koblenz in Germany. 

From 2014 to 2016, he worked with the consultancy Oiko Logica S.L. to develop strategic policies and technical solutions for vulnerable countries and societies with regard to climate change adapation and mitigation, and food security.

In 2017, he developed an AI curriculum for the University of Oldenburg, Germany.

From 2019 to 2021, he worked as a scientific expert in artificial intelligence at the grants office of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure.

In 2023, he taught a course on data science at the University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer.

At the University of Groningen, Volker Nannen is teaching courses on Artificial Intelligence, Linear Algebra, and Advanced Programming.