Julia Penning de Vries studied Sociology (BSc, 2010 - 2014) and Research in Public Administration and Organizational Science (MSc, 2014 - 2016) at Utrecht University. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University School of Governance. Her research interests are related to people management, HRM and leadership in public organisations, particularly the educational sector.

In her PhD research, she studied the antecedents and consequences of shared perceptions (between employees and supervisors) of people management. Her research was conducted in the context of the educational sector.