Henny Romijn is an Associate Professor of Technology & International Sustainable Development in the TU/e Technology, Innovation and Society group.  A development economist by training, she mainly specialised in technological innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainable development in the Global South, especially in the domain of renewable energy. Her main geograhical focus areas are Eastern Africa, the Horn of Africa, and Indonesia.  She lived and worked for several years in East Africa and India before joining academia.

Henny’s research focuses on the role of innovation in combating poverty and fostering sustainable development, and the trade-offs that are often produced between social, environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability outcomes. She applies a socio-technical systems perspective, using insights from sustainability transitions research, international technology transfer & local technological capacity-building approaches, sustainable business model literature, and development governance. She likes to combine these with techno-economic feasibility studies and sustainability assessments in interdisciplinary mixed-methods research. She prioritizes research that can yield tangible positive impacts on the ground for disadvantaged people. 

Before joining TU/e, Henny worked at different well-known development institutions, including the International Development Centre at the University of Oxford, the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, the Development Research Institute of Tilburg University, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and the International Labour Organisation. She worked on several enterprise support programs in East Africa and South Asia.  

Henny has published in, and reviewed for journals focused on international development, innovation and energy, such as Environmental Science and Policy, Energy Policy, Research Policy, Energy and Sustainable Development, the Journal of Responsible Innovation, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Biomass & Bioenergy, World Development, Sustainability, the Journal of Development Studies, Oxford Development Studies, the Journal of Cleaner Production, and the Development Policy Review. She has also authored and contributed to several books.  

PhD SUPERVISION

Henny Romijn is promotor / co-promotor of Milou Derks, Sarah Kyejjusa, Clara Rabelo Caiafa Pereira, Richaela Primus, Mubita Simataa, Huiying Liu, and Aziiz Sutrisno.

Henny Romijn obtained her PhD in Economics from Tilburg University. Her PhD focused on drivers and processes of technological capability building in economic development, particularly the role of small-scale engineering firms. Since joining TU/e, she has coordinated several international collaboration programmes. The first of these focused on sustainability problems associated with liquid biofuels production and utilization in East Africa and India (funded by the Netherlands Science Organization - NWO). A second NWO-funded project aimed at entrepreneurship development among disadvantaged people in Uganda. Then followed a project funded by EU's EuropeAid in partnership with CARE in which two Somali universities were assisted in setting up the countries' first BSc education programmes in eletrical engineering and renewable energy services: Capacity Building in Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy at Somali Universities. Currently, Henny is coordinating EU-URBANE: Sustainable business model development for agroecological farming in West-Africa

Before joining TU/e, Henny worked at different well-known development institutions, including the International Development Centre at the University of Oxford, the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, the Development Research Institute of Tilburg University, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, and the International Labour Organisation. She worked on several enterprise support programs in East Africa and South Asia.  

Henny has published in, and reviewed for journals focused on international development, innovation and energy, such as Environmental Science and Policy, Energy Policy, Research Policy, Energy and Sustainable Development, the Journal of Responsible Innovation, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Biomass & Bioenergy, World Development, Sustainability, the Journal of Development Studies, Oxford Development Studies, the Journal of Cleaner Production, and the Development Policy Review. She has also authored and contributed to several books.