Bruijn, Prof. Michelle

Michelle Bruijn is professor of Regulation of Safety and Health. Bruijn investigates how the law can protect the safety and health of citizens, with a central role for (international) human rights. On the other hand, her research also examines how the law limits the regulation of safety and health. This could involve, for example, a mayor who is not allowed to close down the home of a disruptive family because there are minor children living in the house.
Through collaboration with health organizations, ministries and local authorities, Bruijn uses science to seek solutions to practical social issues. She works closely with NGOs such as the Centre for Crime Prevention and Safety (CCV), municipalities, municipal health services (GGDs) and health and research institutions such as the Trimbos Instituut. Together with the CCV, she created a website for mayors and lawyers to support them in the administrative approach to drug-related crime.
In her research project 'The Administrative War on Drugs', she studied the war on drugs as fought by mayors in the Netherlands. In 2022, Bruijn received the Ben Feringa Impact Award for the societal impact of this research. Bruijn noticed that in the past few decades reliance on home closures and evictions (Article 13b of the Dutch Opium Act) has increased rapidly. In her research, she questions whether those closures and evictions are actually helping and she combines science with practical application.
In 2024, she received a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for the PROHOUSE project. In this project, she investigates the significance and impact of the right to housing and property rights in eviction cases in the Netherlands.
Since 2023, Bruijn has been a member of the Young Academy Groningen (YAG).
