Stéphanie van der Raad Researcher & Advisor

Stéphanie works at DRIFT driven by the conviction that societal challenges must be approached at a systemic level: complex problems are not static or ever the fault of one individual but are constantly in motion and relational in nature. In her work, she employs qualitative research (to understand processes) and translates these insights into practical applications. For instance, she is currently conducting social scientific research that informs a leadership program on effective and just governance (JustWind4All). Additionally, she examines to what extent young people facing financial difficulties regain trust (in themselves and society) when they receive unconditional financial support for a year (Bouwdepot).

Stéphanie has a background as a social and cultural anthropologist and graduated with a focus on workplace well-being among Dutch police officers. During her fieldwork, she closely observed 150 police officers, documenting not only what they said but also what they did. In her thesis, Stéphanie wrote about dark anthropology and anthropology of the good (as two sides of the same “well-being coin”), pursuits of happiness (imagining and striving for future aspirations), belonging (identification with colleagues and their profession), and human security (the constant balancing of risks and safety). To move closer to a sustainable and just society, Stéphanie finds it essential to share complex theoretical concepts and research insights in an accessible way with a broader audience. For this reason, she wrote the article Well-being of Dutch Police Officers about her findings for the magazine 'Tijdschrift voor de Politie' (p. 30, issue 4, 2023). She also believes that a socio-cultural perspective is vital in understanding and addressing injustice, as described in her article 'What Works for Women?' , about workplace gender inequality, written for the project 'The AnthroArt'.

Before joining DRIFT, Stéphanie conducted qualitative research on social safety. Prior to that, she worked at Kennisland as an advisor on societal challenges such as workload and regulatory pressure in education and equal opportunities.

In her free time, you can find Stéphanie in a café with a book or friends, covered in soil from the city garden, among film enthusiasts at the cinema, or with a heavy backpack on a hiking trail.