Prof. Dr. Sonja Blum

Academic career
Since March 2023: Professor of Comparative Politics and Public Policy, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University
2017-23: Fellow at the Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven
2022-23: Interim Professor of Comparative Politics and Public Policy, Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University
2017-23: Researcher, Department of Public Policy & Environmental Policy, Institute of Political Science, FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany
2017: Visiting Professor, Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven (partial substitution of the professorship Public Policy & Administration)
2015-17: Visiting Assistant Professor, Public Governance Institute, KU Leuven (DAAD [German Academic Exchange Service] Postdoc Programme)
2012-17: Senior Researcher at the Austrian Institute for Family Research (ÖIF), University of Vienna
2007-12: Researcher (Predoc), German Politics & Public Policy, Institute of Political Science, University of Münster

Education
2011: Doctorate/Phd studies at the University of Münster, Graduate School of Politics (GraSP)
2007: M.A. Political Science, University of Münster

Professional Activities

• Board member of the German Political Science Association (2024-2027; 2021-24).
• College member of the International Public Policy Association (IPPA, 2023-27)
• Co-chair of the EGPA working group Policy Design and Evaluation.
• Executive Co-Editor Special Issues at the JCPA Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis
• Editorial Boards: Policy and Society, European Policy Analysis, Social Inclusion
• Co-editor of the series Elements of Policy (Springer VS)
• Co-editor of the International Review for Leave Policies and Research

Selected Recent Publications
For a full list of publications, see profiles at Google scholar and Researchgate

• 2025. What defines deservingness? Specifying the criteria for target group constructions in public policy. Policy & Politics, online first. (with J. Kuhlmann)
• 2024. Policy-advisory bodies during crises: A scoping review of the Covid-19 literature in Europe. Evidence & Policy, online first. (with C. Bouchat, E. Fobé & M. Brans)
• 2024. There, across the border – political scientists and their boundary-crossing work. Policy Sciences 57, 437–457. (with P. Squevin, V. Pattyn & J. Jungblut)
• 2024. How does the use of evidence in policy narratives change during crises? A comparative study of New York City's pandemic school shutdowns. Review of Policy Research, online first. (with N. Klatt)
• 2023. 'Sorry, we're closed': a fuzzy-set ideal-type analysis of pandemic childcare policy responses in 28 European countries. European Journal of Politics and Gender, 6(2): 258–94. (with I Dobrotić)
• 2022. How are evidence and policy conceptualised, and how do they connect? A qualitative systematic review of public policy literature. Evidence & Policy, 18(3): 563–82. [with V Pattyn)
• 2022. Academic policy advice in consensus-seeking countries: The cases of Belgium and Germany. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 88(1): 26-42. (with V Pattyn, E Fobé, M Pekar-Milicevic & M Brans)
• 2021. Narrative Plots for Regulatory, Distributive, and Redistributive Policies. European Policy Analysis, 7(S2): 276-302. (with J Kuhlmann).
• 2021. Childcare policy responses in the COVID-19 pandemic. Unpacking cross-country variation. European Societies, 23(1): 545-63. (with I Dobrotić).
• 2020. Inclusiveness of Parental Leave Benefits in Twenty-One European Countries: Measuring Social and Gender Inequalities in Leave Eligibility. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 27(3): 588-614. (with I Dobrotić).
• 2019. Stories of How to Give or Take - Towards a Typology of Social Policy Reform Narratives. Policy and Society, 38(3): 339-55. (with J Kuhlmann).
• 2018. The Multiple Streams Framework and Knowledge Utilization: Argumentative Couplings of Problem, Policy and Politics Issues. European Policy Analysis, 4(1): 94-117.