Rieneke Stelma-Roorda studied Law (LLM, 2015) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Children’s Rights (MSc, 2016) at Queen’s University Belfast and Legal Research (LLM, 2017) at the University of Groningen. Her PhD project focused on the Dutch 'levenstestament', an instrument enabling adults to make provisions for a future period of incapacity. Through a multidisciplinary study combining legal-normative, empirical and comparative research, the project explored how the levenstestament can be positioned within the changing national and international landscape on the empowerment and protection of adults with impaired capacity. In January 2024, Rieneke was awarded her PhD degree cum laude.
Since September 2021, Rieneke is conducting research in and responsible for the projectmanagement of the NWA-ORC project STRIDE - 'Towards a new balance in empowerment and protection of the elderly', led by prof. Masha Antokolskaia - Home - STRIDE (strideconsortium.nl).