Lianne Visser, who earned her PhD at the Department of Public Administration, has won the Van Poelje Prize for the best public administration dissertation of the past year. This award is considered the highest distinction for public administration dissertations in the Netherlands and Flanders. Her supervisors were Jan-Kees Helderman, Taco Brandsen, and Peter Kruyen.
In her dissertation, “Customized interactions: how street-level practitioners, managers, and policymakers accomplish and challenge the provision of customized social services”—which previously won the PMRA Dissertation Award—she examines how tailored approaches in youth care are achieved. She explores not only the discretionary authority of individual local officials or the design of appropriate governance structures but also the ongoing interaction between colleagues, managers, and policymakers.