I am Associate Professor in Public Policy and Policy Analysis at the Institute of Public Administration of Leiden University, and Visiting Professor at KU Leuven Public Governance Institute.

My current research program examines the demands for knowledge and advice of policy makers under conditions of uncertainty and complexity; the conditions fostering and impeding evidence-informed policy making; and the politics of policy evaluation. In addition, I am involved in research projects about policy advice production and use within and outside the civil service (such as parliaments, think tanks, consultants, and political party study centers).  Method-wise, I developed a particular interest in case-oriented and set-theoretic approaches to comparative policy analysis, and in theory-based evaluation methods.

I am serving in several national and international networks including the Permanent Study Group on ‘Policy Design and Evaluation’ (co-founder and co-chair of the European Group for Public Administration; the Flemish Evaluation Association (board member); the working group on policy evaluation of the Dutch Evaluation Association Vide (beroepsvereniging voor toezichthouders, inspecteurs, handhavers en evaluatoren); COMPASSS COMPArative Methods for Systematic cross-caSe analysis (advisory board) and the International Public Policy Association (college member).

In addition, I am Associate Editor for Policy Design and Practice, and serving on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Evaluation; Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice; Evaluation and Program Planning; Beleidsonderzoek Online; and Vlaams Tijdschrift voor Overheidsmanagement.  

Previously, I occupied positions as doctor-coordinator of the Policy Research Center Governmental Organisation and Decisive Government in Flanders (Steunpunt Bestuurlijke Organisatie Vlaanderen); researcher and lecturer at KU Leuven Public Governance Institute, and programme co-ordinator of the Master of European Politics and Policies at KU Leuven Institute for International and European Policy. In 2014 I completed my PhD, entitled: “Policy evaluation activity unravelled. A configurational analysis of the incidence, number, locus and quality of policy evaluations in the Flemish public sector” (shortlisted for the Jaarprijs Politicologie, the annual prize for the best PhD in political science defended in the Netherlands or Flanders).

My full CV can be received upon request.