Laureen is a PhD candidate at the Utrecht Centre for European Research into Family Law (UCERF) since September 2019. Her research focuses on rethinking parentage law on the basis of a legal, and a legal theory and ethical study. Societal changes have led to a greater diversity in relationship and parenthood forms. Although adjustments have been made in parentage law, a heteronormative marriage model still lies at its basis. This may cause problems when it comes to parenthood forms that deviate from this model. It’s also these ''nonstandard situations'' in particular, that allow for a fundamental reflection: who should be a child’s parent, with what rights and duties, and why - what should be the justification of these choices? The research is supervised by Prof. Wendy Schrama and Dr. Jet Tigchelaar.

Laureen completed her LL.B. and LL.M. in Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law cum laude at Leiden University. During her exchange year at the University of Oxford she studied the common law system and international law. As a master student, Laureen did an internship at the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands to the United Nations in New York. There, she focused on human rights issues in the field of gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

After her graduation, Laureen worked as a lecturer at the Jurisprudence department in Leiden, and completed a project on argumentation and writing skills in the bachelor programme for the Institute of Jurisprudence, Constitutional and Administrative Law of Utrecht University.