Van Rijnsoever is involved in the study programme Science and Innovation Management at Utrecht University. He is predominantly interested in the (societal) workings of innovation processes. His scientific expertise centres around consumer and organisational behaviour, the interaction between university and industry, choice (experiments), innovations and their public acceptance, social networks and entrepreneurship.

Besides his work as a teacher and researcher at the university, Van Rijnsoever writes columns in support of clean-tech innovations for the Financieele Dagblad, and he is an academic editor for the multidisciplinary open access journal PLOS ONE.

He obtained his PhD in 2010, studying the information use of consumers with regard to new innovations. After working as a junior lecturer at the Department of Innovation and Environmental Sciences at Utrecht University, he was appointed assistant professor Innovation Studies in 2009.