Sabine van Zuydam becomes new ‘Academic Fellow’ at USG
Since the autumn of 2025, Sabine van Zuydam is appointed to the Utrecht University School of Governance (USG) by means of an Academic Fellowship. Political office holders and their functioning have her special attention. She especially focuses on the credibility of (local) politics, and on the appeal and quality of the political office. The idea behind this fellowship is to further strengthen the bridge between academia and practice. That fits perfectly with how I've already been working for years,
Sabine van Zuydam says.
Who is Sabine van Zuydam?
Dr. Sabine van Zuydam has already been combining academic activities with research in practice for over ten years. She previously had ties to Tilburg University and the University of Twente. In 2018, she obtained her doctoral degree at Tilburg University with a thesis about credible political leadership.
Between 2016-2021, she worked as an Assistant Professor at that very same university, did research into attendance improvement for municipal elections, administrators' qualities, developed and collaborated on the Basismonitor Politieke Ambtsdragers, provided education and carried out contract research besides that.
Since 2018, she has ties to research and advisory bureau Necker, since 2022 also as a co-owner. Political office holders and their functioning have her special attention. She is specialised in the advising of trust commissions in the search for new mayors (and the subsequent steps). Furthermore, she does research into and advises on equipping political office holders in order to fulfil their positions, for instance via the Best Administrator Award Necker organises in collaboration with Binnenlands Bestuur. Other themes which are important to her work are democratic interplay and governance culture, the improvement of governance integrity and the collaboration within security triangles. Sabine is also a frequent research leader in evaluation and reconstruction research in political-governance sensitive context.
Besides this, she has fulfilled several roles in municipal audit offices since 2015. For instance, she was acting director of the audit-office commissions of Hellevoetsluis and Brielle, acting president of the audit-office commission Meierijstad and president of the audit-office commission Alphen-Chaam and Baarle-Nassau. Sabine also has current ties to audit offices, specifically as acting director of the audit offices of Nissewaard and Goeree-Overflakkee.
Since September 2025, she is appointed to the position of Academic Fellow at the Utrecht University School of Governance (USG).
Credibility and appeal of political office
The idea behind this fellowship is to further strengthen the bridge between academia and practice. That fits perfectly with how I've already been working for years,
Sabine van Zuydam says about her appointment.
I'm going to focus on two lines of research. First of all, the gaining and retaining of credibility, especially in contact with residents. Political office holders can only do their work properly if they are credible - it's the cornerstone of their power of persuasion. This makes how this credibility comes about an important issue. But how that works locally has seen little research so far and one example of this is that we see that mayors are nominated for Best Administrator for different reasons than aldermen.
Second, my interest is directed to the appeal of the office. What do municipal council members, aldermen and mayors need in order to do their work well and sustainably? If good people quit over work pressure or lack of support, you lose much quality. This of course links up seamlessly with my work at Necker, especially with the supervising of trust commissions: how do you find not only the right mayor, but especially the best match for your municipality? And how can we make that profession more inclusive and more diverse?
Besides research, Sabine van Zuydam will possibly also hold guest lectures in (continued) education.
USG is very happy with Sabine van Zuydam's Academic Fellowship,
says prof. Albert Meijer, because she's a very experienced researcher with much knowledge on themes which are of great importance and link up well with our lines of research, such as leadership and democracy. We've also come to know Sabine as an open person who loves to collaborate and also wants to make a contribution to our education.
What is an Academic Fellow?
Academic Fellows are professionals who work in social practice, such as in governments, corporations, social organisations, and knowledge and advisory bureaus, connected with Utrecht University. They carry out academic activities, and nourish academic education and research. The idea for Academic Fellowships comes forth from the idea that universities are required to be in close contact with society in various ways, and are required to provide knowledge circulation.
Academic Fellows at USG
The Academic Fellows of the Utrecht University School of Governance (USG) of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance (LEG), contribute to the figuring out of complex social issues and the generating of social impact. They can do this in various ways, for instance by publishing, by contributing to curriculums or research projects, or by contributing to public engagement activities. Besides this, Academic Fellows can be involved in further developments of open science and impact of the department.
Contact
Would you like to contact Academic Fellow Sabine van Zuydam? You can do so via the Secretariat of the USG board: bestuurssecretariaat.usbo@uu.nl.