Maarten Hillebrandt is assistant professor in public management. His research focuses on disinformation as a challenge for democracy and public policy, particularly at the local level. He specialises in public information questions surrounding public debates. Previously, Maarten conducted research on the quantification of performance in the public sector, particularly the European Higher Education sector. As an expert in EU institutional law and governance, he has widely published on government transparency policy in and beyond the EU. 

Maarten has previously held positions at the Erik Castrén Institute for International Law and Human Rights, Helsinki University; the Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University; and the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance (ACELG), University of Amsterdam. In addition, he has been a visiting fellow at the Research Centre for the Analysis of Governance and Public Policy in Europe (LAGAPE), University of Lausanne, the Centre for European Research (CERGU), Gothenburg University, and the European University Institute (EUI), Florence. Maarten participated in various multiple-year international research projects, namely Open Government in the EU (2010-2017), Quantification, Administrative Capacity, and Democracy (2017-2019) Transparency in the EU, From Reaction to Manifesto (2017-2021), en Separation of Powers for 21st Century Europe (2021-2022). Currently, Maarten is involved in Utrecht University's inter-faculty cooperation within the cross-cutting sector plan Welfare, participation and citizenship in a digital world. Along with Robert Weijers (FSS, Department Psychology), in 2024-2025 he conducted a study into the local engagement with the challenges of disinformation, financed by the Maatschappelijke Coalitie Over Informatie Gesproken. As of 2025, Maarten, along with Robert, co-chairs the Special Interest Group Tackling Disinformation and Misinformation, which forms part of the focus area Governing the Digital Society. 

In 2017, Maarten defended a dissertation on the historical development of the access to documents policy of the Council of the EU at the University of Amsterdam. This dissertation was awarded the annual Van Poelje Prize for the best dissertation in the field of public administration in the Netherlands and Flanders.

Maarten's research interests include the policy and politics of government information, disinformation governance, transparency theory, EU institutional decision making, socio-legal and qualitative research, and institutional informality.