Ellen van Wolde is a Biblical scholar and researches the Hebrew Bible in the context of the Ancient Near East.

She investigates these concepts through language and text research in close connection with the culture and cognition (the mental processes) of people in the Ancient Near East.

In doing so, she strives to uncover the thought processes and language use of people in the time, place, and culture in which the texts originated.

In 2005, Van Wolde was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

[2] On the occasion of the bicentenary of the KNAW, the six-part series "The Magic of Science" was made where one of the documentaries is dedicated to her.