Georgina Kuipers is part of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of Leiden University. Her PhD research was focused on trust in government, particularly how this is affected when governments allows their citizens to suffer damage (thereby ‘facilitating’ damage). How can government create trust-building compensation policy if it has facilitated damage for a group of citizens as part of a large-scale infrastructural project, for the sake of the public interest?

More information about Georgina Kuipers

Georgina Kuipers was a PhD Candidate at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law of Leiden University. She conducted an interdisciplinary research project titled Damaged trust. Building trust through compensation policies after government-facilitated damage. In large-scale infrastructure projects, the Dutch government allows its citizens to suffer some damage and nuisance ('facilitated damage'). The government then aims to settle claims and compensate that damage; it also tries to restore the trust relationship between victimized citizens and the government. How can government arrive at a trust-building compensation policy if it has facilitated damage for a group of citizens in a large-scale infrastructural project, for the sake of the public interest? In her research, Georgina designed an interdisciplinary theoretical framework of trust-building compensation policy based on legal, public administrative and political science insights. Subsequently, on the basis of three extensive case studies – the construction of the North/South metro line in Amsterdam, the expansion of Schiphol Airport, and the consequences of gas extraction in Groningen – her study analyzed to what extent these theoretical insights have an effect in practice: did they help to build or recover trust in government? The aim of her book is to provide practical and concrete guidelines for lawyers and policymakers involved in compensation policy, so that they know how not to damage trust in the government in the future.

Prof. Willemien den Ouden and Prof. Martijn van der Steen were supervisors and mr.dr. Michiel Tjepkema was co-supervisor for this dissertation. In July 2017, Georgina was granted the Meijers PhD position to commence her doctoral research, based on her interdisciplinary research proposal ‘Trust Arrives on Foot but Leaves on Horseback. How (Not) to Restore Trust in Government after Facilitated Damages.’ She successfully defended her dissertation and obtained her doctorate on December 7^th, 2021.

Previously, Georgina received her Bachelor’s diploma from Leiden University College The Hague (2013), having majored in World Politics. She continued her studies with a Research Master’s in Political Science and Public Administration (2015), specialising in public administration, at Leiden University. During her Master’s she also completed the Leiden Leadership Programme, where she executed an assignment for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. During her studies, she took on various board positions, e.g. as academic representative at Leiden University College and its study association Fortuna, and as assessor (student member of the board) of the Honours Academy of Leiden University.

After graduation, she worked successively as Coordinator Strategy and Policy and as Education Coordinator & Policy Officer at the Honours Academy. She started her work at the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law in September 2016. In addition to her research, Georgina has taught seminars in the courses ‘Beginselen van de Democratische Rechtsstaat’ (Introduction to Constitutional Law, first-year Bachelor’s) and ‘Inleiding Bestuursrecht’ (Introduction to Administrative Law, first-year Bachelor’s). Additionally, she coordinated and taught the Honours Class ‘Gas extraction in Groningen and the phenomenon of trust in government’.

Starting October 2021, Georgina works at the Nederlandse School voor Openbaar Bestuur (The Netherlands School of Public Administration) in The Hague.