Dr. Paulien De Winter

Biography

Paulien de Winter is an Associate Professor in Legal Theory at Utrecht University and affiliated with the Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Administration of Justice. She founded and coordinates the Empirical Legal Studies Lab (ELS Lab UU). In 2025, she will be appointed as an endowed professor of Regulatory Enforcement at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen. Paulien has a core membership at the Groningen Centre for Empirical Legal Research (GELR) and holds a doctorate with a dissertation titled “Tussen de Regels” (“Between Rules: A Socio-Legal Study of Enforcement of Social Security Legislation”). Her empirical legal research primarily focuses on enforcement and supervision, particularly how frontline staff apply rules in practice. Paulien has received several grants for her research, including one from the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) and was awarded the Gratama grant for her work on the human dimension of social security legislation. She has published a book and produced a podcast exploring these themes. Paulien also contributes to the undergraduate law program at Utrecht University, teaching various courses and coordinating a minor on societal challenges and the rule of law. In 2025, she will receive a grant from the Utrecht Education Incentive Fund (USO) to develop contextual learning pathways. She is active in academic governance as a board member of the Dutch Association for Law and Society and serves on the editorial boards of several journals.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards