Dr F.J.N. van Berckel Smit (Floris)

Dr. Floris van Berckel Smit is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Radboud University. He has a background in public governance (MSc, Utrecht University, 2017) and political history (MA, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2018). His research focuses on:

• applied history and the role of historical knowledge, insights, and skills in policymaking and diplomacy;
• organizational change in complex institutional settings;
• the rise and impact of (new public) management in higher education;
• oral history.

His research is embedded in the Applied History research group within the Faculty of Arts at Radboud University.  He is currently working on the research project 'Integrating History in Dutch Public Policy'. Previously (2020), he received an NWO-grant to conduct PhD-research on the rise of New Public Management in Dutch and Flemish university governance. He was also a visiting scholar at Ghent University (2019-2020). Floris has contributed to various projects involving collaboration with historians, political scientists, educational scientists, public administration scholars, as well as policymakers and managers.

His work on the varieties of New Public Management at the organizational level was recognized with the European Higher Education Society Outstanding Paper Award 2023.