Sophie is a PhD candidate at the Innovation Studies and Environmental Governance Group, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University. She has a background in Political Science (BSc, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and Governance of Sustainability (MSc, Leiden University), where she has developed a particular interest in the sustainability of food systems and the governance of grand societal challenges.
Sophie is part of the research project dedicated to fostering new collaborations between actors in the Dutch agri-food sector in order to accelerate the transition to circular agriculture. Her task is to explore and propose new types of governance arrangements necessary to break barriers and accelerate this transition. Adopting a transformation lens, she will analyse perceptions, collaborative governance modes, agency, and transformative capacities. Her research will critically address path-dependencies, power relations, barriers, and legitimacy within innovation policy. Empirically, special attention is given to regional governance arrangements on the provincial level by studying the provinces Overijssel and Noord-Brabant. She aims for her research to impact society by collaborating with actors in the field and, thereby, bridging the gap between science, policy, and practice. .
