Welcome at my page - I am Professor of socio-technical innovation and societal resilience in Faculty of Social Sciences (at the Department of Organization Sciences) and 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 North-West University and 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 am interested in the role of innovation, organizational change and the use of (new) technologies. My focus is on crisis and disasters in relation to societial resilience: I study new forms of crisis governance and management from the perspective of inter-organizational collaboration and community engagement. In this context, I study how new technologies and innovations are used to improve crisis management and governance, including information sharing, coordination and decision making, crisis and risk communication, and early warning/early action policies. You can find the text of my Inaugural lecture here in Dutch and here in English.

My research is embedded in various projects with academic and non-academic partners, funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), the European Union (Horizon 2020 and COST Action) and by public and private institutes. I conduct my research in close collaboration and where posisble in co-creation with public, private and community partners and I frequently act as an expert consultant.

My work is published in a variety of journals including Organization Studies, Human Relations, the Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, Public Administration, the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, and in book chapters and edited volumes. I was Coordinating Lead Author of Science for Disaster Risk Management: knowing better and losing less. (2017), and of Science for Disaster Risk Management: acting today, protecting tomorrow.  (2020), Publications Office of the European Union, Joint Research Center, Ispra.

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. 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

• Master COM and BCO, course: 'Organization and Power'
• Master Public Administration, course: 'Fysieke Veiligheid en Crisisbeheersing'
• Research Master Societal Resilience and Big Data, course: 'Foundations of Societal Resilience'
• Graduate School of Social Sciences, course: 'Selected Qualitative Methods'
• Science, Business and Innovation: 'Master thesis project' 
• Science, Business and Innovation: 'Bachelor project'
• Science, Business and Innovation, Bachelor course: 'Ondernemerschap en Innovatie'
• Science Business and Innovation, Pre-master course: 'Theories of Technology Venture Creation'
• Course at the University of the Free State, South Africa, and the UN University: 'Participatory Risk Assessment'
• Guest lectures on crisis management and governance, societal resilience
• MSc and PhD thesis supervision

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

Current grants (selection)

2020-2024: project leader and PI of the EU Horizon 2020 project "LINKS: Strengthening links between technologies and society for European disaster resilience", with 16 partners from 7 European countries and Japan. Total budget: €5.2 M.

2020-2023: Work Package leader on multi-layered disaster governance in the EU Horizon 2020 CORONAVIRUS project "HERoS: Health Emergency Response in Interconnected Systems", with 10 partners from 7 European countries, with total budget €2.8 M., the Governance Work Package budget: €360 K.

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: €100 K.

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 €150 K.

Previous grants (selection)

2014-2019: PI and project leader of the NWO (The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) funded project 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: €700.000

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 €60.000

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: €100.000

2013: project on Partnership Development Smart Governance, NWO. Main applicant, with Peter Groenewegen, Julie Ferguson and Scott Poole. Grant: €20.000

2011: project on Cultural Change in Netcentric Operations. Main applicant, with prof. Jaap den Heer. With the Platform Netcentric Operations (Crisisplein). Grant: €55.000

2010 project Public Values in Urban Mega Projects. With Next Generations Infrastructures. Co applicant; PI: Prof Alfons van Marrewijk. Grant: €260.000

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.

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

Ancillary activities are updated daily