Sanderijn Cels

Sanderijn Cels

Fellow
Sanderijn Cels

Sanderijn Cels is a practice-oriented academic, affiliated with Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights. She teaches the course “Becoming an Agent of Change” at Harvard Extension School, as well as several executive education programs. 

Her research and teaching focus on social innovation, strategic communication, and transitional justice, and she is specialized in case writing and case teaching. She is currently finalizing a book about moral leadership: how leaders respond to sensitive issues and address historic wrongs, and how their responses are perceived by the broader public. 

Before coming to the US in 2008, Cels chaired a think tank in the Netherlands and worked as an advisor to several ministries of the Dutch national government. Cels has published on public policy issues, including women's emancipation and transitional justice. She produced 100+ articles, 20+ teaching cases and 7 books, including Agents of Change: Strategy and Tactics for Social Innovation (Brookings Institution Press, 2012, co-authored). Cels holds a PhD in social sciences and a master degree in history (with honors).