PhD Research Projects

1. Owen Gaffney, 2025-present. Is Planetary Stewardship Emerging? (working title)
2. Erin Jones, 2024-present. Planetary Stewardship in View of Earth-Space Sustainability (working title)
3. Jan Bakkes, 2024-present. Principles of Integrated Sustainability Assessment for the 2030s (working title)
4. Ashok Vardhan Adipudi, 2021-present. Systemic Effects and Risks of Environmental Problem-Shifting on the International Environmental Treaty System (working title)
5. Isik Girgiç, 2021-present. Addressing Problem Shifting for Overall Effectiveness: International Institutional Law as a Tool for Harnessing Complexity and Diversity Within the Network of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (working title)
6. Paul Lucas, 2019-present. Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals: Goals Structuring and Target Setting (working title)
7. Abbie Yunita, 2019-2024. Recursive Shifts: Manifestations of the Sustainable Development Goals in Contemporary Development Practice
8. Melanie van Driel, 2019-2024. Global Goalsetting as a Policy Response: The Impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on International Organizations
9. Maya Bogers, 2019-2023. Integrating Global Sustainability Governance: How the Sustainable Development Goals Impact Institutional and Policy Integration at the Global Level
10. Miranda Boettcher, 2018-2022. Language, Knowledge, Power: The Discursive Construction of Climate Engineering Governance
11. Dona Barirani, 2016-2022. Change and Integration of International Environmental Institutions in Global Governance

MSc Thesis Research Projects

1. Myrte Molenaar, 2025. Shading the sun and shaping the story with the Paris Agreement
2. Paul McMeekin, 2025. Zombie institutions in global environmental governance: Characteristics, prevalence and impacts
3. Bram Sanders, 2025. Zombification in environmental NGOs: A case study of Polar Bears International
4. Phani Varnava, 2025. Do global goals shape how international organizations interact? An analysis of the impact of the SGDs on the collaboration between the UNDP and UNEP
5. Wiktoria Gradzka, 2024. Partnerships for the SDGs – An empirical study of German housing providers balancing the trade-off between affordable housing and green spaces
6. Cormac Watson, 2024. Greening Irish dairy policy: Is the European Union leading the way?
7. Amy Sun, 2024. Do nature-based solutions create more problems? A case study of a private company-led agroforestry project in Indonesia
8. Laura Bengel, 2024. In the shadow of the Amazon rainforest: The EU’s oversight of problem shifting to the Cerrado
9. Leon Wagenknecht, 2023. Imagining a multiplanetary future: Elon Musk's impact on the sustainability discourse
10. Lucie Oelschläger, 2023. NGOs – the holistic protectors of the environment? A network analysis on the interconnection of climate and biodiversity in Germany's climate NGOs
11. Sem Jans, 2023. Estimating problem shifting from the Minamata Convention on Mercury: An assessment of the policy response and unintended impacts induced by the implementation of the Minamata Convention
12. Renate Reitsma, 2022. Future-proofing institutions by entering dangerous territory
13. Elliot Kelly, 2022. Cascading problems through the Ramsar Convention
14. Jannah Wijermars, 2022. Facilitation for the future: The Ozone Secretariat's role during the Kigali Amendment negotiations
15. Thomas Gruben, 2022. The effects of short-termism on sectoral problem shifting
16. Minttu Hänninen, 2021. Directionality of problem shifting between international environmental regimes and its impacts on fragmentation
17. Aashima Singh, 2021. Consumption-based targets for food: Investigation of the differences in their adoption by C40 Cities
18. Avalon van der Wal, 2021. Ambitious urban climate policy: A qualitative comparative analysis on variation in urban climate ambition in terms of target setting
19. Hanneke van Haeff, 2021. Organizational legitimacy as an incentive for companies to set science-based targets and shape a more attractive investor profile
20. Robbin de Jong, 2021. To adopt or not: The influence of institutional pressures on science-based targets adoption
21. Carolina Halevy, 2020. From fragmentation to polycentricity: The manifestation of the hybrid approach throughout the intergovernmental conferences on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction
22. Jonathan Hirschhäuser, 2020. Environmental problem shifting between international environmental treaty regimes
23. Freek Terberg, 2020. All hands on deck: A realist perspective on EU-China climate change cooperation
24. Tom Peek, 2019. Mapping integration and coherence in Sustainable Development Goal implementation by the United Nations System
25. Jaz Hereford, 2019. Impact of the Global Environmental Facility on multilateral environmental agreement fragmentation
26. Oana Forestier, 2019. Prioritisation of SDGs: National trends, international assistance, and global governance implications
27. Sam Tenniswood, 2018. Power and fragmentation in global governance architectures: Global North vs. Global South at the biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction negotiations
28. Yangyue Li, 2018. Policy changes under the influence of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets: A case study of the United Kingdom
29. Rory O’Brien, 2017. Orchestrating SDG policy: Assessing the use of orchestration as a governance mode to affect Sustainable Development Goal policy change
30. Andri Zainal Kari, 2017. Refining Indonesian civil society organization participation for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
31. Rhiannon Martinez, 2017. Conch gone? Assessing the management of the Bahamian queen conch fishery
32. Corentin Bialais, 2016. References to multilateral environmental agreements in trade agreements through the lens of complex systems theories
33. Hanna Ahlström, 2015. Institutional structures and actor collaborations for the governance of global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles: Investigating polycentric order

BSc Thesis Research Projects

1. Venus Larsen Monleón, 2025. The role of governance fragmentation in environmental problem-shifting: A case study analysis of The Netherlands
2. Amar de Maaker, 2025. Environmental problem shifts through the Dutch offshore wind strategy
3. Veerle van Wezel, 2025. How light pollution fails to reach the Dutch policy agenda: A qualitative media analysis of light pollution in relation to biodiversity framing
4. Matthijs Scholte, 2025. The transferability of Dutch flood risk management to Germany: A case study of Arnhem and Bonn
5. Charlotte Schoon, 2024. MEA document complexity: A new obstacle in the ratification process?
6. Camila Barrientos Chuquipiondo, 2024. Deciphering delays: Understanding domestic influences on environmental agreement timelines in Latin America
7. Elena Mingarelli, 2024. Evaluating stakeholder collaboration in the governance system of the Pelagos Sanctuary
8. Karolien Vanstraelen, 2024. The influence of civil participation on problem shifting and its resolution
9. Emma Field, 2023. Investigating the effects of right-wing populism on IEA ratification in Europe
10. Cors Gardeniers, 2023. Privatization and sustainability in United States space discourse
11. Naomi Jankee, 2023. A framework to measure and assess inter-institutional transparency and its relation to coordination between overlapping environmental organizations
12. Misha Midavoodi, 2023. Marine genetic resources, access and benefit sharing under the UN BBNJ Treaty: An analysis
13. Archie Redman, 2023. Assessing sustainable investment behaviour and the complexities of sustainable finance disclosure regulation: Insights from the industry
14. Rianne Zwaan, 2022. How a climate case has the potential to induce bottom-up societal transformation
15. Yannick Egberink, 2022. A multi-disciplinary analysis of information gathering for the adoption of solar panels by older adults
16. Robert Laan, 2022. Why the Dutch farmers took it to the streets: An analysis of the backlash in the agricultural sector towards the Dutch Nitrogen Reduction and Nature Improvement Program
17. Dorine Bezema, 2022. How to increase the interest in adopting car-sharing among young adults?
18. Jannah Wijermars, 2020. Sink or swim: Politically feasible cross-border relocation options for citizens of Tuvalu under threat by sea-level rise
19. Helge Giezeman, 2020. The influence of scientists on international organizations lawmaking: A case study on the Legal and Technical Commission's influence on the development of the Mining Code of the International Seabed Authority
20. Jorian van Oostrum, 2020. Analyzing the relation between interdisciplinary research and success in seagrass restoration projects
21. Maaike Thimm, 2020. A framework for conditions of success for an environmental meat tax: A structured literature analysis and verification with Denmark's fat tax

Research Assistantship

1. Elena Kleinmaier, 2024.
2. Bára Kvasnicková, 2023.
3. Sara Matthée, 2023.
4. Mara Scheibenreif, 2022.
5. Lucie Oelschläger, 2022.
6. Heikke Merilin Raidma, 2021-2022.
7. Pien Barnas, 2021-2022.
8. Christoph Krüger, 2021-2022.
9. Jia Qi Hu, 2021-2022.
10. Claire Hermsen, 2021-2022.