His research deals with singularity theory (including three-dimensional Calabi-Yau varieties), mixed Hodge structures (after Pierre Deligne), and variation of Hodge structures[2] (after Phillip Griffiths).
Steenbrink was an Invited Speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1990 in Kyoto.[3]
as editor with Vladimir Arnold and Gert-Martin Greuel: Singularities: The Brieskorn Anniversary Volume, Birkhäuser 1998; Arnold, Vladimir I.; Greuel, Gert-Martin; Steenbrink, Joseph H. M. (6 December 2012). 2012 pbk reprint. Birkhäuser. ISBN978-3-0348-8770-0.
as editor with Gerard van der Geer and Oort: Arithmetic Algebraic Geometry, Birkhäuser 1991; g, van der Geer; Oort, F.; Steenbrink, J. H. M. (6 December 2012). 2012 pbk reprint. Springer. ISBN978-1-4612-0457-2.
with Yoshinori Namikawa: Global smoothing of Calabi-Yau-threefolds, Inventiones Mathematicae, vol. 122, 1995, pp. 403–419 doi:10.1007/BF01231450
^Steenbrink, Joseph H. M. (1991). "Application of Hodge theory to singularities". In: Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians, August 21–29, 1990, Kyoto, Japan. Vol. I. Mathematical Society of Japan. pp. 569–576.
^Mijn Spectrum (pdf), Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde, December 2012 (Farewell Lecture in Dutch)