Marjanneke is Academic Director of CHARM-EU at Utrecht University. CHARM-EU one of the 50 European Universities Initiatives and serves as a testbed university for innovations in challenge-based and transdisciplinary education and research around sustainability. It is an alliance between Utrecht University, University of Barcelona, Trinity College Dublin, University of Montpellier and Eötvos Loránd University Budapest, recently joined by the University of Bergen, Würzburg University, Åbo Akademi University, and Hochschule Ruhr West. Marjanneke represents Utrecht University in the CHARM-EU Academic Council, which is responsible for the development and oversight of academic standards, quality and regulations in CHARM-EU's educational and research programmes.
Marjanneke is also Utrecht Programme Leader of the first ever joint European Master's Global Challenges for Sustainability that was developed by a European Universities Initiative. Marjanneke played key roles in the establishment of the CHARM-EU Master's and led the development and execution of the Capstone, the final 6 months of the programme in which students across 5 universities work together with societal actors to analyse and address sustainability challenges in Europe and beyond. In June 2023, the Master's programme won the very first UU Team Award. Under Marjanneke's leadership, the Master's programme and team are currently in the running for the Dutch Education Award issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
Apart from her roles in CHARM-EU, Marjanneke teaches in courses that are part of the BSc programme Global Sustainability Science and the MSc programme Sustainable Development. In the BSc programme, Marjanneke used to be coordinator of the track Governance and Societal Transformation. She coordinated the second year BSc course Policy Evaluation and Design and has taught in Foundations of Social Sciences for Sustainability and Global Integration Project. At the MSc level, Marjanneke taught in International Governance for Sustainable Development.
In January 2023, Marjanneke received her Senior University Teaching Qualification. She was selected for the Educational Leadership Programme by the Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning which she started in June 2023.
BSc/MSc supervision
Aligned with her current research, Marjanneke supervises BSc and MSc students in qualitative and/or quantitative analyses on the following topics:
Policy coherence and (in)equality around the Sustainable Development Goals and/or climate action
Policy coherence is one of the key implementation mechanisms for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and is also considered crucial to reach the targets set out by the Paris Agreement. Coherent, cross-sectoral policy-making is expected to generate more effective and inclusive policies that address synergies and trade-offs between competing goals and interests. However, does policy coherence ‘work’ for everyone in equal ways? How does policy coherence affect inequality? These questions are severely understudied in the literature, and yet are of particular importance in developing countries. Students are invited to write their thesis around the following questions: What do the political processes for policy coherence around the SDGs and/or climate action look like and what are their effects? What is the level of interest representation of the poorest and most vulnerable, a key target group of the SDGs? (How) are non-state actors (NGOs, businesses) involved in pursuing policy coherence around the SDGs and/or climate action? Crucial to consider is not only coherence in national policies, plans and budgets, but also in development assistance. Students are invited to write their thesis around the topic of a research project that studies policy coherence between Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement at regional, national and subnational levels, focusing on the consequences for inequality. The supervisor is involved in this project which is led by the Stockholm Environment Institute in collaboration with Utrecht University, the German Development Institute and Linköping University. Case studies include the Philippines, South Africa, Kenya and Germany, but work in other countries is highly welcomed. For more information, see https://www.sei.org/projects-and-tools/projects/policy-coherence-between-the-paris-agreement-and-agenda-2030/#overview.
Leaving No One Behind in sustainable development
The Sustainable Development Goals call for development pathways that “Leave No One Behind” and reach the poorest and most vulnerable first. What are possible mechanisms to attain this vision, (how) do they work, and why (not)?
Governance and (in)justice of the Water-Energy-Food nexus in South Africa
The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus is gaining scholarly and policy attention. Despite growing evidence on which type of nexus governance works, little is known about the consequences of such governance for social justice. Implementing the nexus requires decision-making about trade-offs between the use and production of water, energy and food. This raises justice questions of whether the nexus can benefit all, and who makes decisions and at what levels. In South Africa, where access to water, energy and food are strongly influenced by a history of Apartheid and inequality, there is a need to study the challenges and opportunities of a socially just nexus implementation from the bottom up. What are some of the policy and legal frameworks that promote or impede such nexus implementation? How do the relations between water, energy and food resources play out at the community level? Which on-the-ground projects already seek to implement the nexus, and with what implications for social justice? Students are invited to write their thesis around the topic of the research project ’Water-Energy-Food communities in South Africa: multi-actor nexus governance for social justice?’ which the supervisor is co-leading. For more information, see https://www.wefcommunities.co.za.
Transdisciplinarity in challenge-based learning: how to align societal impact with higher education?
Challenge-based learning (CBL) is an increasingly popular pedagogical approach which connects higher education with societal challenges, develops student transversal skills, and generates societal impact by solving global and local challenges with societal stakeholders. One of the key challenges in successful CBL delivery, is aligning students’ learning goals with the needs of societal stakeholders. Finding suitable societal challenges, organising student/stakeholder alignment, developing relevant curriculum design with appropriate assessment methods, and ensuring satisfactory stakeholder engagement to match learning goals with stakeholder needs are crucial elements to ensure success. But what are the key factors within these elements that lead to success? Theses could be developed around this question, drawing on experiences and lessons learned from Utrecht University and other universities in Europe. Insights from the first ever European Joint degree Master’s program ‘Global Challenges for Sustainability’, developed by European Universities Alliance CHARM-EU can be relevant here, in which the supervisor is involved. For more information, see https://www.charm-eu.eu.
Involved in the following study programme(s)