Inaugural Lecture Paulien de Winter: 'Effective oversight begins with an eye for the supervisors who carry it out'

Paulien de Winter (36) is an associate professor of Legal Theory at Utrecht University and, as of August 1, 2025, a distinguished professor of Oversight at the University of Groningen. On November 20, she will deliver her inaugural lecture, titled 'Oversight Between Law and Reality'. "I’m curious about how rules on paper play out in practice."

_{Text: Esther van der Meer/Photo: Gerhard Taatgen}

Utrecht or Groningen?
“That’s an impossible choice. Utrecht is my home base now; that’s where I hold my primary appointment as an associate professor of Legal Theory. But my heart is here, too. I studied in Groningen and worked at the law school there for ten years. My appointment as a special professor of Supervision in Groningen feels like a gift.”

Your chair focuses on oversight practice—what exactly does that entail?
“Oversight is essentially about knowing, weighing, and taking action: in practice, the oversight official checks whether rules are being followed, investigates whether and what needs to be done, and then takes action.

My chair was established by Vide, the professional association for experts in the fields of supervision, inspection, enforcement, and evaluation. I am the fourth professor to hold this position. My predecessors conducted research on supervisory boards and on what happens in the boardroom, among other things. I, on the other hand, focus on the operational level.

I’m a sociologist of law: I’m curious about how rules on paper play out in practice. My focus is on the frontline professional who must apply and monitor the rules in practice. There’s often a gap there, and I find that space interesting, because it’s in that implementation that policy takes on a human face for citizens.”

Is the field of oversight a broad one?
“There are eleven national inspectorates alone, such as the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority and the State Mining Inspectorate; then there are market authorities, such as the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets and the Dutch Data Protection Authority; and in addition, there are many other regulatory bodies, including, at the regional level, the provinces, municipalities, and water boards.

They come in all shapes and sizes: from the inspector who walks onto a construction site in boots to the strategic inspector who spends more time working at her computer. Every inspection agency or market authority has its own approach to oversight. It’s a complex field, but the frontline staff face the same dilemmas. They can learn a great deal from one another, and organizations can also learn a great deal from their employees.”

What is the core message of your inaugural lecture?
“Effective oversight begins with an eye for the regulators who carry it out. Their knowledge, experience, and competencies—but also their doubts and dilemmas—influence how they interpret rules and exercise their professional discretion. Anyone who seeks supervision solely through better legislation or more refined risk analyses is therefore seeing only part of the story.

In my inaugural lecture, I argue for focusing on these supervisors. This can be achieved very effectively through empirical legal research: by examining real-world practice and involving professionals in the lawmaking process, we can narrow the gap between rules and reality. To do this, you must recognize the added value of the professionals who do the work and involve them in the lawmaking process from the outset.”

There still seems to be a great deal of work to be done here. The NRC recently reported that half of the new laws enacted by the Ministry of Justice are not assessed—or are only partially assessed—for feasibility.
“I happened to use that article as a case study in one of my lectures in Utrecht. The regulator often sees where things get stuck in practice, where rules fail to be implemented. Consequently, there is a growing consensus that the regulator should play a more reflective role. The regulator is not only the enforcer of the rules but also the assessor of whether laws work in practice.

But in my inaugural lecture, I also want to caution against viewing the regulator as a jack-of-all-trades: these days, regulators are not only expected to enforce the rules; they also serve as a watchdog, must possess a moral compass, and keep the human dimension in mind. That’s important, but you can’t just dump everything on the regulator under the motto: “We make the laws, and you’ll have to figure it out.” You also have to train and pay people for that.”

How can you bridge the gap between law and reality?
“You need buy-in from the professionals; if you don’t take that into account, the gap between the law and reality widens. Then you see employees working around the rules, when in fact the rules themselves should be adjusted.”

What question are you most eager to explore within your chair?
“I want to focus my research on regulators. Often, the individual inspector is taken as the starting point. I, on the other hand, want to examine how they relate to other colleagues and the organizational culture. Do they discuss their decisions with one another? How is that incorporated into the organization? I’d like to conduct network analyses: looking at a team of regulators—what enforcement style do they have, does it vary among them or is it consistent, how do they collaborate, how do they share information, what dilemmas do they encounter, and how does the organization address those?”

What did you want to be when you grew up?
“Professor was certainly not a career I had in mind. I’m the first in my family to go to college and become a researcher.

I’m curious about group processes and find social network analyses interesting. I also find it valuable to gain insight into worlds that seem closed off from the outside and have their own internal dynamics and rules. This applies, for example, to the women’s prison where I once did an internship, but also to practice in the social sector, the various regulatory domains, and, of course, the academic world!

Many students who are starting a law degree may not yet realize that they could go on to work for a regulatory agency. In Groningen, I teach the course “Regulation and Law Enforcement” in the master’s program. In discussions and through assignments, I notice how students are becoming increasingly interested in the issues and opportunities related to regulation.”