Elco van Burg is full professor of Organizational Theory, Head of Organizational Theory Section at the School of Business and Economics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and chairman of the VU council of vice-deans research (VUO). He holds a PhD from Eindhoven University of Technology in entrepreneurship, as well as an MSc. Degree (cum laude) in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from the same university and an M.A. degree (cum laude) in Theology from Utrecht University. After several academic positions at both Eindhoven University of Technology and VU Amsterdam, Elco has been working in a social enterprise in the rural highlands of Papua (Indonesia) for a period of six years, where he is still involved. 

Elco's research is situated at the intersection of organization theory and entrepreneurship. His current research projects follow these three lines:

1. Organizing with purpose, with a focus on moral leadership in organizations and participative decision-making practices that help to organize with purpose, for instance through enabling alignment of values througout organizations. Part of this research line is also a project on religion and value-based organizing. 
2. Digital transformation in organizations. This includes exploring how digitalization can serve (health)care for older persons, without making them more vulnerable (such as in the large NWA consortia projects MOVUS and VAROS projects), and the use of agile organizing in traditional bureaucracies (in collaboration with Belastingdienst and RWS). 
3. Psychological safety and restorative organizing, in particular in the context of the Dutch military (Defense). This research line addresses how organizations can increase pyschological safety through targeted interventions, value discourse, and moral leadership, but also what prevents or even erodes psychological safety. 

In his research, Elco aims to bridge theorizing and practical application through the use of design approaches, for instance in targeted design sprints that involve both academics and practitioners. This way he has been working in many different contexts, and involving a variety of organizations such as ESA, RWS, Belastingdienst, Dutch Defense, SIGRA, Zuidoostzorg, Thebe, Vitalis, the Salvation Army, De Regenboog Groep, HVO Querido, et cetera. 

Elco teaches at Bachelor's, Master's and PhD level courses on organization theory, digital transformation, and research methods. Next to that he puts his experience in social ventures and purposeful organizing at work in the Executive MBA on Organizing with Purpose, including an exciting part in Jakarta addressing cross-cultural values and organizing with purpose. Moreover, he supervises Master's theses and is involved in the supervision of more than ten (executive) PhD students.  

Elco got the following research and teaching grants.

• NWA grant (NWO/ZonMw) (2026-2028) "Vulnerability and Resilience in an Online Society: bridging science and policy (VaROS)" with Christine Moser and Rebecca Ruehle.
• “Programme Psychological Safety”, with Steven van Baarle, Dutch Defense Academy.
• ZonMw VIMP grant (2025 – 2026) for further disseminating the results on Coronatijden.nl.
• NWA (NWO/ZonmW) grant (2024 – 2026) for the project entitled “Mechanisms of vulnerability and resilience (MOVUS): (Re)designing digital organizing in care and housing for older persons” with Christine Moser, Shiko Ben-Menahem and Rebecca Ruehle.
• NOSTER grant (2023 – 2024) from for the proposal “Stairways to Heaven: Embodied Imaginations of Sustainable Futures in Religious Communities”, with the aim to develop a large grant/consortium proposal, with Peter-Ben Smit, Mariecke van den Berg, Mathijs van de Sande, Klazina Staat, Suzan Sierksma-Agteres, and Dinah Wouters.
• Co-funding (2022-2026) from Belastingdienst and Rijkswaterstaat for a PhD student focusing on the use of agile in governmental institutions.
• ZonMw and NWO (2020-2022): Kwetsbaar in Amsterdam: De organisatie en effecten van de ondersteuning van kwetsbare groepen tijdens en na de coronacrisis
• ESA and NSO (2014-2019): Funding for a PhD project on entrepreneurship and technology transfer in the space sector, funded by the European Space Agency and the Netherlands Space Office. 
• Nuffic (2013), Bhutan: Tailor-made-training for business developers from Bhutan on the topic ‘business development and strategic financial and investment analysis”.
• EU Directorate Enterprise - E-Force (2009-2011): This project involved the development of  21 high quality teaching cases on entrepreneurial decision making (total sum: € 684.000), with seven partners from The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Germany and Norway. For more information, see eforce-cases.blogspot.com.
• SenterNovem - CASINDO (2010-2011): Training university staff in Indonesia in technology transfer, cooperation between  universities and industry and academic entrepreneurship.
• EU SUCCESS (2009): Start-up summer school for researchers and potential entrepreneurs in green energy, with TKK and HSE (Finland), as a ‘pre-KIC’ for the EIT.
• EU Interreg IIIC – Mateo IV E-Clue (2006-2007): Work package in which we developed a web-based entrepreneurship course. 

• STTR Wamena | Wamena | Docent | 2021-01-27 - present
• Yayasan Lentera Papua | Wamena | Adviseur | 2021-01-27 - present
• Bijzondere Noden | Woerden | Projectcoordinator Papua (Indonesia) | 2021-02-03 - present
• Stichting Exploitatie Peuterhof (SEP) | Dordrecht | Bestuurder | 2021-10-28 - present
• VCORG (Basisonderwijs) | Dordrecht | Bestuurder | 2021-10-28 - present
• EYA Aviation Indonesia | Wamena | Financieel manager | 2021-12-01 - present

Ancillary activities are updated daily