Personal profile

Personal information

Welcome at my page - I am Professor of socio-technical innovation and societal resilience in the Faculty of Social Sciences (at the Department of Organization Sciences), part-time seconded to the Faculty of Science (at the Science, Business & Innovation group).

I am co-founder of the Crisis Resilience Academy of the Institute for Societal Resilience. I was board member of the Association Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM) from 2016 - 2022. Since 2019 I am member of the steering committee of KUNO: Platform for Humanitarian Knowledge Exchange. I was visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the USA, and at the University of the Free State in South Africa.

I have been expert member of various advisory committees on crisis-governance, crisis evaluation, and societal resilience including those of the WODC (the Research and Documentation Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security), the NIPV (the Netherlands Institute for Public Safety), the LOT-C (National Operational Team Covid), the Dutch Parliament, the EU JRC (Joint Research Center) and various EU committees.

Research Agenda

In my research I use my bakcground in Science and Technology Studies to understand crisis and disaster governance in relation to societial resilience (addressing grand challenges).  You can find the text of my Inaugural lecture here in Dutch and here in English.

I was the Research Director of the program Organizations & Processes of Organizing in Society (OPOS) at the Department of Organization Sciences from 2007–2010 and from 2018-2021.

Teaching

My courses are related to topics such as organizational theory, physical safety, crisis and disaster governance, innovation management, and organizational culture. I teach at Bachelor's, Master's and Graduate School Level and hold University Teaching Qualification (BKO) and Senior Qualification Teaching (SKO) certificates.

As of 1 January 2022 I am the Director of the Master's Programme Science, Business and Innovation (SBI). I am member of the Examination Board of the Research Master on Societal Resilience at the Faculty of Social Sciences, since July 2019. From 2015-2018 I was the Director for the Master's Programmes Culture, Organization (COM) and Management and Policy, Communication and Organizations (BCO).

Current courses

Graduate School

  • 'Selected Qualitative Methods', Graduate School of Social Sciences

Master's

  • 'Organization and Power', master's COM and BCO
  • Changing Organizational Culture, master's COM
  • 'Fysieke Veiligheid en Crisisbeheersing', master's Public Administration 
  • 'Foundations of Societal Resilience', Research Master Societal Resilience
  • Research Methodology, master's SBI
  • 'Master thesis project', SBI

Bachelor's

  • 'Bachelor thesis project', bachelor's SBI
  • 'Theories of Technology Venture Creation', pre-master's SBI
  • 'Confronting Commodity Chains'; bachelor's Faculty of Social Sciences

Current grants (selection)

  • 2023-2026: EU Horizon grant: "SYNERGIES: Innovating Preparedness by Leveraging Synergied and Enhancing Results of DRM Projects", PI: Alberto Pasquini, Deep Blue, Italy. Grant: €5.0M. VUA budget: €500K.
  • 2020-2024: project leader and PI of the EU Horizon 2020 grant "LINKS: Strengthening links between technologies and society for European disaster resilience", with 16 partners from 7 European countries and Japan. Grant: €5.2M; VUA budget: €1,25M.
  • 2022-2024: NWO/NWA grant: Institutional Resilience, Organizational Healing, and Adaptive Capacity in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic, project in a larger grant on BASICS for Resilience Building Adaptive, Collaborative, and Inclusive Capacities for Resilient Societies. With Lianne Cremers with Cato Janssen. Budget: €100K.
  • 2022-2025: Project on Adaptive Basic Police Training. Funded by the TNO programme Weerbaar en Wendbaar. Projectleden: dr. Sierk Ybema & dr. Michiel Verver (VU), dr. H. Duijnhoven & dr. R. Delahaij (TNO), Prof. dr. Annika Smit, Politieacademie / Uni. voor Humanistiek. Budget: €150K.

Previous grants (selection)

  • 2020-2023: Work Package leader on multi-layered disaster governance in the EU Horizon 2020 CORONAVIRUS grant "HERoS: Health Emergency Response in Interconnected Systems", with 10 partners from 7 European countries. Grant: €2.8M. Work Package on Disaster Governance budget: €375K.
  • 2014-2019: PI and project leader of the NWO (The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) grant on “Enhancing Smart Disaster Governance: Assessing the potential of the net-centric approach.” Co-financed by 4 Safety Regions, the Institute for Physical Safety (IFV) and Oxfam Novib and Cordaid. Grant: €700K
  • 2019: Co-creation project Amsterdam Living Lab: a resilience approach to crisis management and communication. With the Municipality Amsterdam, Safety Region Amsterdam Amstelland and the Institute for Societal Resilience (Joris Rijbroek). Total budget €50K
  • 2015: project on Local Resilience Capacity Building for Flood Mitigation, co-applicant. Main applicant: prof. Dave Huitema. With the EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection programme. Grant: €100K
  • 2013: project on Partnership Development Smart Governance, NWO. Main applicant, with Peter Groenewegen, Julie Ferguson and Scott Poole. Grant: €20K
  • 2011: project on Cultural Change in Netcentric Operations. Main applicant, with prof. Jaap den Heer. With the Platform Netcentric Operations (Crisisplein). Grant: €55K
  • 2010 project Public Values in Urban Mega Projects. With Next Generations Infrastructures. Co applicant; PI: Prof Alfons van Marrewijk. Grant: €260K

Awards

  • 2022: Best paper award in Risk and Resilience by Esmee Peters, Louise Knight, Kees Boersma and Niels Uenk. “Managing medical product supply in times of crisis: a high reliable perspective on the case of the Netherlands”. Award sponsored by: Supply Chain and Resilience Research Institute. SCR3, UMSL, IPSERA.
  • 2018:    Best PhD Supervisor Award, Graduate School Faculty of Social Sciences
  • 2018:   Distinguished Service Award ISCRAM Association
  • 2017:    Outstanding contribution in reviewing for International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
  • 2016:    Bi-annual senior research award of the Faculty of Social Sciences for the research project Smart Disaster Governance
  • 2014/18:  Various grants from the Institute for Societal Resilience for research projects on crisis management, safety and security
  • 2006: Research grant Center for Comparative Social Science (CCSS), Amsterdam. Research project: Networks of Research
  • 2002:    EBHA Dissertation Award, awarded in Helsinki, Finland

Supervised PhD candidates as (co)promotor

Realized:

  • Robert Larruina. Promotor with prof.dr. Halleh Ghorashi. The Winding Road to Meaningful Integration: A Ten-Year Multi-Perspective Approach to Unraveling Refugee Reception and Integration in the Netherlands. Graduation date: 24 March 2023.
  • Christian Reuter. Promotor with prof.dr. Ira Helsloot. A European Perspective on Crisis Informatics. Citizens’ and Authorities’ attitudes towards Social Media for Public Safety and Security. Radboud University Nijmegen,  graduation date: 11 October 2022.
  • Willem Treurniet. Promotor with prof.dr. Peter Groenewegen. Between Chaos and Continuity. A Common Operational Picture in Support of Emergency Response Networks. Amsterdam, graduation date: 7 September 2022.
  • Rosanne Anholt. Thesis: Governing (In)Security: Perspectives and Understandings of Resilience in Practice. Co-promotor with prof.dr. Wolfgang Wagner (promotor) and dr. Ronald van Steden (co-promotor). Amsterdam, graduation date: 11 January 2022.
  • Arjen Schmidt. Thesis: Turbulent Societies. How Governments Can Respond to the Mobilization of Societal Actors during Crises. Co-promotor with prof.dr. Peter Groenewegen and prof.dr. Arjen Boin (promotors). Amsterdam, graduation date: 27 November 2019.
  • Jeroen Wolbers. Thesis: Cross-Boundary Coordination in Emergency Response. Co-promotor with prof.dr. Peter Groenewegen (promotor). Amsterdam, graduation date: 7 January 2016 (cum laude).
  • Léonore van den Ende. Thesis: The power of transition rituals in complex construction projects. Co-promotor with prof.dr. Alfons van Marrewijk (promotor). Amsterdam: 25 November 2015.
  • Han Bakker. Thesis: Idea Management. Unravelling creative processes in three professional organizations. Co-promotor with prof.dr. Marcel Veenswijk (promotor). Amsterdam, graduation date: 6 December 2010.
  • Hanneke Duijnhoven. Thesis: For Security Reasons. Narratives about Security Practices and Organizational Change in the Dutch and Spanish Railway Sector. Co-promotor; together with prof.dr. Marcel Veenswijk (promotor). Amsterdam, graduation date: 21 April 2010.

Ancillary activities

  • KUNO: Platform for Humanitarian Knowledge Exchange in the Netherlands | Den Haag | Bestuurder | 2020-06-30 - present

Ancillary activities are updated daily

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
  • SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics where Kees Boersma is active. These topic labels come from the works of this person. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
  • 1 Similar Profiles

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or