After he got is master degree at the university of Utrecht in the field of inorganic chemistry, dr. Polder went to Wageningen University where he received his doctor degree at the department of Physical and Colloid Chemistry. In 1984 he became employed in TNO. Since 1984 he is leader of the team "Performance of Materials".

Dr. Polder is widely known for this expertise on corrosion mechanisms and for many contributions to the development of cathodic protection. He was involved in several international research projects, like DuraCrete (FP4), DARTS and CHLORTEST (FP5) and TUNCONSTRUCT and ARCHES (FP6). He was member of number of CUR committees, most of them dealing with durability. He was, and still is, active in RILEM, either as member of working groups or as reporter. Since several years he is active in parts of the M&E-course on Repair and Maintenance (CT5100). He has participated in the users group of several PhD projects.