Dr. Sofie De Bus holds a Master of Science in Criminology (VUB, 2009), a PhD in Criminology (VUB, 2018) and a Master of Laws (VUB, 2019). She works as a Postdoctoral researcher at the Criminology Department and as a teaching and research assistant at the Department of Private and Economic Law of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
In her PhD in Criminology, Sofie studied the role of gender and gendered practices within the Youth Court. She is currently preparing an empirical-legal research on the impact of the Sixth State reform on Belgian youth law and youth protection. Her research interests are situated within youth law, family law and youth criminology with an emphasis on empirical-legal research (youth court actors, legal guarantees of minors in youth and family law, legal aid of minors, vulnerable groups in the youth justice system).
Sofie is a member of the Working Group Gender, Crime & Justice, the Working Group on Juvenile Justice and the Working Group on Qualitative Research Methodologies and Epistemologies of the European Society of Criminology, the Women, Criminology and Criminal Justice Network of the British Society of Criminology and the International Society of Family Law (ISFL). She is also part of the editorial board Youth Law and Youth Aid of the Tijdschrift Pantopicon.
