Overijssel is a province in the east of the Netherlands with 1.16 million inhabitants. I work at the research department, as an advisor in the field of Housing, Retail and Spatial Planning. As an account manager, I liaise between my department and the policy makers working on these themes. I am supported by three researchers in my cluster.
I provide research input to the policy department, to ensure policy is grounded in sound data. To do this, I verify which information is required, coordinate research and make the results accessible for policy makers. Our Housing Dashboard is a good example of this. I also provide advice on data and research as a member of the Stadsbeweging
('City Movement'), a programme that aims at improving the vitality of city centres and ensuring that they are 'future-proof'. In this role, I was a member of the supervisory board of alarge-scale study into shopping patterns in the Eastern Netherlands, took the initiative for the Vitality Benchmark for City and Town Centres and helped organise a series of workshops on Smart Cities.
Monitoring and evaluation
I monitor and evaluate the province’s policy, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. For example, I led theevaluation of the programme ‘Ruimte voor de Vecht’, a long-term cooperation between the province and 12 partners to invest in the development of the region along the Vecht river. I also evaluated the Provincial Strategy on Spatial Planning and the Environment (Omgevingsvisie).