Dr. Sophie Vanhoonacker

Biography

Sophie Vanhoonacker is the Chair of Administrative Governance and a Jean Monnet professor at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University. Her research critically examines the role and influence of bureaucratic actors in multi-layered, polycentric systems of decision-making, with a special focus on European foreign policy. She has served as the dean of her faculty from 2016 to September 2020 and is actively involved in the academic community as a series editor for the 'New European Union Series' published by Oxford University Press, as well as the European Administrative Governance series by Palgrave Macmillan. Vanhoonacker teaches courses related to EU foreign policy and external relations, and she has previously been a visiting professor at the College of Europe. Her academic journey includes a PhD from Leiden University obtained in 1999, and she possesses degrees in history from the Catholic University of Leuven, European Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, and International Relations from Université Libre de Bruxelles. In addition to her role at Maastricht University, she is a senior member of the Netherlands Institute of Government. Her significant previous experience includes working at the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Maastricht, where she contributed to training programs for civil servants involved in EU decision-making, particularly related to the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).

Research Interests

Experience