Joks Janssen has been educated as art historian (Bachelor, Utrecht University) and urban planner (Master Degree Technical University Eindhoven). He has a special interest in cultural and planning history. In 2005 he obtained his doctorate at Tilburg University for a thesis on regional planning for rural areas in North-Brabant, the Netherlands. Since then he carried out research for Telos, the Brabant Centre for Sustainable Development, an interdisciplinary and independent research centre that studies, monitors, and supports sustainable development. In december 2006 he joined the Institute for Spatial Research in The Hague as post-doc researcher.

He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Belvedere Project Grants Programme, a national programme to underpin and foster the cultural diversity of town and country by building on the cultural history.

Joks gives lectures and regularly writes in both scientific and professional journals on issues related to his interests.