Renée currently works as a researcher and project manager in the area of governance and accountability at UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance of Maastricht University.

She is specialized in the political and institutional aspects of governance, public service delivery and aid effectiveness.  Within this field her research concentrates on analyzing and assessing accountability policies and practices and more in particular the mechanisms through which the different stakeholders, including aid donors, interact in these processes. 

Next to research Renée is involved in training courses for civil servants, elected representatives and employees of local and international NGOs and international organizations on topics ranging from ‘strengthening citizens involvement in policy and decision-making making in service delivery’ to ‘evidence based policy analysis, advocacy and evaluation’.

Her professional experience in this area involves research, training and policy advice projects with a variety of public and private actors from countries in Latin America, Sub Sahara Africa, Asia and Europe for over more than 10 years. 

	Selected publications by Renée Speijcken
UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Speijcken, Renée & Wieger Bakker, 2011, The elusive quest for the golden standard: Concepts, policies and practices of accountability in development cooperation, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2011-018
Speijcken, Renée, 2011, Strengthening the roles of political parties in Public Accountability - A case study of a new approach in political party assistance, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2011-017
Conference contributions
Speijcken, Renée, 2010, The Elusive Quest for the Golden Standard: Concepts, Policies and Practices of Accountability in Development Cooperation, presented at the Conference ‘Public Matters’-Researching Accountability, 10 year anniversary USBO/Utrecht School of Governance, Utrecht University, 19-20 November 2010
Speijcken, Renée, 2009, Promoting Public Domestic Accountability, what are we talking about? Framing the concept of Accountability in Development Cooperation, presented at the first Accountability Workshop organized by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2 July 2009, The Hague, the Netherlands
Speijcken, Renée, 2009, Trends and Experiences in strengthening the demand side of domestic public accountability by intensified involvement of citizens & their organizations and the Role of donors in this type of change processes, presented at the Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO), 9 July 2009, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Speijcken, Renée, 2009, : Cooperating in fostering Domestic Public Accountability: a mutual learning process between INGOs and their local partner organizations, presented at the Helvetas Participatory Governance and Accountability Workshop, 18-23 October 2009, organized by The Swiss Association for International Cooperation (Helvetas), Morschach, Switzerland