Taco Brandsen studied Public Administration and English Language & Literature at Leiden University and completed his doctoral thesis at Twente University in 2001. Currently, he is  Associate Professor in Public Administration at Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

His research experience includes:
- International projects such as the Third Sector European Project (TSEP) and work done within the Network of Excellence "Civil Society and New Forms of Govermance" (CINEFOGO).
- A number of projects on social housing in The Netherlands and Germany, focusing on such issues as service diversification and the effects of cooperative housing.
- Various funded projects in the field of public administration on issues such governance, accountability and regulation.

He has been an active participant and organiser in European PhD networks on the third sector and the civil society. Currently, he is in the process of developing the International Master Programme on the Coordination of Transition (IMPACT), supported by a consortium of the universities of Budapest, Ljubljana and Nijmegen.

He has been an active member of international research networks such as EGPA, EMES, IRSPM and ISTR, as well as the European PhD network on the third sector and civil society.

 

He is a member of the editorial board of the book series 'European Civil Society' with NOMOS publishers.