Hanneke is a PhD candidate at the Environmental Governance Group of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. Her research is part of the NWO project RESHAPE. In this project researcher from different disciplinary backgrounds study how the Dutch sandy soils – areas that are vulnerable to droughts, floods, and pollution – can be transformed towards more climate resilient landscapes. 

For decades, many environmental issues have been addressed, but these efforts have not led to the fundamental changes needed for just and sustainable ways of life. A potential explanation is that current interventions primarily target the direct drivers of environmental change, such as land use and pollution, while overlooking deeper social and economic system structures, such as norms and values, that keep these direct drivers in place. Hanneke wants to understand this “lock-in” by studying the underlying drivers of unsustainable land-use in the context of Dutch Sand Landscapes. Using a system thinking perspective, her research will explore how governance arrangements in regional area-based collaborations enable or hinder transformative change. 

Hanneke has a background in organizational studies and gained knowledge on the intersection of public administration and natural science during the master Governance of Sustainability. After that, she worked at the province of Utrecht on projects aimed at restoring the natural quality of floodplains of the rivers Nederrijn and Lek.