As of 1 September 2026 Ida Mae de Waal works as a lawyer at Pels Rijcken. She is also an affiliated researcher at the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law (UCWOSL) of Utrecht University. 

She holds a PhD (2024, cum laude) from Utrecht University. Her PhD research, titled ‘A Legal Framework for the Circular Economy in the European Union’, focuses on the role of coherence within EU chemicals legislation, product legislation and waste legislation in light of the transition towards a circular economy. The research describes how the EU legal framework can better incentivize higher R-strategies, such as reuse. It also explains how to make better use of the inherent interaction in the legislation governing the life cycle of products. In short, this research identifies legal barriers as well as incentives and opportunities to achieve a circular economy in Europe. 

Ida has published frequently on the legal aspects of the circular economy transition, including on exptended producer responsibility (EPR), circular buildings and construction, critical raw materials (CRMs) and circular plastics.