Marte Vroom

Marte Vroom is a Research Trainee at the Innovation Policy Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Her research sits at the intersection of political economy, economic geography, and innovation studies, with a focus on how carbon-intensive regions—such as those shaped by mining and steel—adapt to cleaner and more sustainable economic futures. She works with econometric analysis and machine learning, uses patent data, and conducts fieldwork to understand why some regions seize green innovation opportunities while others struggle to adapt.

A Fulbright alumna, she conducted graduate research at UCLA, where she examined the geography of green invention and the role of environmental regulation in shaping regional technological specialization in the United States. She holds a Master of Science in Urban and Economic Geography (cum laude) from Utrecht University, supported by a Fulbright grant for thesis research at UCLA, and a Bachelor of Science in Human Geography and Spatial Planning (with honours), also from Utrecht University.