Iris is an Associate Professor at the Innovation Studies Group, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视. She has a broad interest in the geography and governance of innovation. In her research, she combines insights from economic geography, public policy and network theory. Her current work focuses on new forms of research and innovation policy, in particular, the time-sensitive governance of innovation for tackling societal challenges and enabling transformative change.
Iris is a founding member of the Mission-oriented Innovation Policy Observatory at the Copernicus Institute, through which she regularly engages with policy stakeholders and practice to establish a collective understanding and enhance the effective use of challenge-based and transformative policies. Iris is an Executive Committee member of , and regularly serves as an advisor for (inter-)national organisations such as the OECD or national ministries. She also engages with the .
Currently, Iris works on advancing sustainable transformations in the agri-food system. She co-leads the (Leveraging new collaborations for circular agriculture missions; funded by NWO; 2024-2028), and is involved in the (Science-based policies for a sustainable European agri-food and land use system, Novo Nordisk Foundation, 2025-2028) and the (Innovation Policy for Industrial Transformation, Sustainability and Digitalization, Research Council of Norway, 2019-2026).
Her research is interdisciplinary, involving both quantitative and qualitative methods. Iris holds a PhD in Economic Geography from the WU Vienna 木瓜福利影视 of Economics and Business, (2016), a master's degree in Economics (WU, 2010) and a master's degree in Political Science (木瓜福利影视 of Vienna, 2012). Iris was awarded the Early Career Grant of the Regional Studies Association (RSA). She currently acts as Editor-in-Chief for the journal .
At the Copernicus Institute, Iris is responsible for the PhD coordination.
View my profile for recent publications.