Sabine is a PhD candidate within Innovation Studies at the Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development. She was educated in Environmental Social Studies (BSc, Utrecht University), and Governance of Sustainability (MSc, Leiden University), providing an interdisciplinary background in the study of sustainability challenges and environmental policy. 

Sabine's PhD thesis titled Embracing the politics of directionality investigates how we can understand and mobilize the concept of ‘directionality’ in sustainability transformations. The thesis is specifically situated in sustainability transitions research on questions of politics, power and normativity. Policy studies literature, including policy process frameworks are mobilized to conceptualize six leading questions in her research; Which direction is given? Who gives direction? Where is direction given? How is direction given? When do directions change? And why do some directions prevail over others? Empirical analysis within the thesis is conducted through a comparative historical analysis of the normativity of historical agri-food pathways in The Netherlands and Norway (1945-2023) and in the context of the design of a Dutch regional agricultural policy vision.

Sabine's project is situated in the INTRANSIT research center and is supervised by dr. Iris Wanzenböck and Prof. dr. Koen Frenken.