Schaap is a Dutch politician and philosopher, professor at the Free University of Amsterdam and Charles University of Prague, water specialist Sybe Schaap obtained degrees in economics, sociology and philosophy. He wrote a dissertation on neo-marxism and then lectured philosophy at both Charles University of Prague and at Free University of Amsterdam. Also, Sybe Schaap is an author of several books on neomarxism and Nietzsche, with themes around totalitarianism and populism. Many of his books are translated in the Ukrainian and Russian languages and published in Kyiv.

He has been a member of the VVD parliamentary party in the Upper House since 12 June 2007. Until 2010, he was the president of the Union of Water Boards. In the Senate, Mr Schaap deals with matters such as agriculture, nature, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. He is advising worldwide on water management issues around flood control, irrigation and water governance.