Supporting policy with scientific evidence

I am an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Administration of Leiden University (The Netherlands), and I am affiliated to KU Leuven Public Governance Institute (Belgium).

My work focuses on evidence-informed policy making, particularly under conditions of uncertainty and complexity. My research programme has examined this issue from several complementary lenses. Two recurrent research themes have been: (1) the politics of policy evaluation and its institutionalization in evaluation systems; and (2) evidence and policy advice production and use within and outside the civil service (such as (party) think tanks, consultants, parliaments).

In 2022 I received a VENI grant (Dutch Science Foundation) for the project ‘policy evaluations evaluated: when do they prompt an overhaul of policies’. The project will compare the use of evaluation studies in different policy fields in various countries. I am currently also co-supervisor of the interdisciplinary ‘uncertainty communication project’ (KU Leuven C1 funding); and management committee member of the COST Network on Professionalization and Social Impact of European Political Science. Besides basic research, I am active in policy consulting and evaluation research in various policy fields.

I serve in various several national and international networks including European Group for Public Administration (co-chair Permanent Study Group Policy Design and Evaluation); Strengthening & Transferring Evidence for Policies & Politics Society (advisory board); Flemish Evaluation Association (co-ordination committee); Dutch Evaluation Association (core group); and COMPArative Methods for Systematic cross-caSe analysis (advisory board). I am also assistant editor of Policy Design and Practice.

My work has been published in a wide range of public administration, public policy and evaluation journals, such as the Journal of European Public Policy; Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis; Evaluation; American Journal of Evaluation; Public Administration; Evidence & Policy; Public Management Review.