Projects

My main research theme is network governance and social innovation between heterogeneous stakeholders (civil society, government, residents, firms). I address these themes in a variety of social settings. My projects have all received funding from external sources, including EFRO, SIA, NWO (Dutch National Science Fund), the KNAW (Dutch Royal Academy of Science), the Network Institute, and various national and international private and public partners. A selection of my projects is included below.

PhD supervision (project descriptions below):
Joachim Meerkerk (HvA/UvA), Yasemin Oruc (HTH/UvA), Iteke van Hille (VU, completed), Sabine Wildevuur (VU, completed),  Felipe Nodari (Porto Alegre, Brazil; visiting scholar, completed), Freek van Berkel (VU, completed), Greetje Corporaal (VU, completed), Luzan Koster, Femke Mulder, Remo Niehot. 

Research assistants/research interns (selected project descriptions below):
Julian Leek (HvA), Brendan McDade (Hva), Arjen van Lindt (HvA), Egle Salominaite (VU GSSS Research Fellow); Myrthe van der Wekken (VU/UvA Network Institute Academy Assistant); Erwin Biersteker (VU, Research Assistant Smart Governance), Marije Visscher (VU/UvA Network Institute Academy Assistant).

Circollab: An interdisciplinary program toward accelerating the circular transition in the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam, connecting economic, technical, social and creative domains. Projectleader. SIA SPRONG. 

House of Skills: advancing a skills-approach to labor and education market innovation. Program manager Center of Expertise (kenniscentrum) HoS 2.0, project manager Governance / Business model HoS 1.0. ESF/EFRO

Futureproof Equilibrium: Balancing between diverging interests: developing innovative governance models for urban consumption spaces in an inclusive and sustainable manner. Project leader. SIA Raak-pro. 

Boundary spanners in action: How do professionals facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing across different domains, in cross-cutting social challenges? Co-author & Researcher. SIA Raak-publiek.  

Urban entrepreneur collectives: How can entrepreneur collectives and independent entrepreneurs (zzp'ers) strengthen entrepreneurial capital through knowledge sharing and collaboration? Co-author & project leader. Center of Expertise Urban Governance & Social Innovation. 

Bedrijfsinvesteringszones in Nederland: Hoe dragen bedrijfsinvesteringszones (BIZ) - geformaliseerde ondernemersnetwerken - bij aan de effectiviteit van ondernemers, aan hun profilering en professionalisering? In dit onderzoek maken we de balans op na 5 jaar BIZ in Nederland. I.o.v. Platform de Nieuwe Winkelstraat, Stad & Co, Provincie Noord-Holland.

Humanitarian support in a denial-of-access context. An interdisciplinary study (organization sciences and law) into how humanitarian professionals cope with tension of international versus sovereign law in conflict-ridden contexts. Project leader. Research grant from Network Institute, results published in Journal of International Humanitarian Action

Strengthening aid accountability: impact assessment of accountability initiatives following the Nepal earthquakes. Co-applicant & supervisor. A study aimed at developing an impact assessment methodology based on crowdsourced disaster relief initiatives. Research grant from Network Institute. Project in collaboration with Accountability Lab, Kathmandu Nepal. (with Victor de Boer)

Enabling person-centered care through information and communication technology: towards a resilient approach of healthcare. Co-applicant & supervisor. A study of how ICT-enabled person centered care can strengthen patient and sector resilience. Research grant from Institute for Societal Resilience(with Fleur Thomese and Sabine Wildevuur)

Organizing resilience for dealing with water crises in networked societies. Co-applicant & supervisor. A study of networked approaches to water governance mechanisms. Research grant provided by Institute for Societal Resilience. (with Frank de Bakker and Christine Moser)

Enhancing smart disaster governance: Assessing the potential of the net-centric approach (NWO/MAGW)
Co-Applicant PhD Advisor (with Kees Boersma, Promotor Peter Groenewegen). In this project we seek to strengthen coordination of emergency response. It comprises a comparative analysis of top-down crisis management in the Dutch context, and bottom-up, emergent citizen-based humanitarian response in the humanitarian context. My involvement is mostly with this latter component of the project. Project funding was granted by NWO (Dutch Science Council) and includes 2 PhD candidates and a Post-Doc position (Jeroen Wolbers), in collaboration with the University of Tilburg (Bartel van de Walle) and the University of Leiden (Arjen Boin). 

Smart disaster governance: A legalistic perspective. Co-applicant & supervisor. With Erwin Biersteker, who is addressing the legal challenges involved with 'smart disaster governance'. (with Bianca Beersma and Peter Groenewegen). Outcome published in Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Mainstreaming sustainable trade (NWO/MAGW). Co-Applicant and PhD Advisor for Iteke van Hille (with Frank de Bakker, Promotor Peter Groenewegen) This project focuses on corporate social responsibility (csr), and studies how peripheral actors can strengthen the adoption of sustainable commodity trade in a variety. Iteke van Hille was awarded a prestigious Research Talent grant from NWO (Dutch Science Council) and will be conducting this research in collaboration with IDH, the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative.

Dispersed collaboration across boundaries PhD Advisor for Greetje Corporaal (together with Dick de Gilder, Promotor Peter Groenewegen). The focus of this project is how people collaborate across boundaries, in a Japanese-Dutch multinational setting. Greetje obtained a generous research grant for this project from the multinational company, as well as the Dutch-Japanese Trade Association, complemented by the VU Faculty of Social Sciences. Completed: June 2018.

Two projects related to person-centered care
PhD Advisor 
- for Luzan Koster, who is researching 'Identity (re-)construction in person-centered care'. Project funding granted by Vereniging Het Zonnehuis. (with Sierk Ybema, Promotor Henk Nies)
- for Sabine Wildevuur, who is studying ICT-enabled person-centered care. (with Fleur Thomese, Promotor Ab Klink)

Learning from errors in the financial regulatory sector. PhD Advisor for Remo Niehot. Research at De Nederlandse Bank (DNB). (with Cathy van Dyck, Promotor Peter Groenewegen)

Entangled public projects: The dynamics of interdependence in the public eye. PhD Advisor for
Freek van Berkel, with a focus on project coordination in temporary project teams. (with Cathy van Dyck, Promotor Peter Groenewegen). Completed: June 2016. Outcomes published in Long Range Planning and Administration and Society. 

Developing human capital among low-skilled diasporic communities
Supervisor for Egle Salominaite, who is studying the barriers and enablers of human capital development within low-skilled Lithuanian diaspora communities in the Netherlands. Egle's research is based on a research fellowship, granted by the VU University Dept of Social Sciences. (together with Peter Groenewegen). Completed: 2016. Outcome published in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2016)

Knowledge sharing for the rural poor 
This project seeks to study how 'computer science for development' can be better adapted to local contexts. It is a research collaboration between the VU Dept of Organization Science (me), the VU Dept of Computer Science (Stefan Schlobach and Victor de Boer), and the 'Web Alliance for Regreening Africa' (W4RG, Anna Bon and Wendelien Tuyp). The project includes two Academy Assistants, Myrthe van der Wekken and Gossa Lo, and is based on a research grant provided by KNAW (Royal Dutch Academy of Science), and a generous grant from the VU University Network Institute. For more on this project, see here. Gossa and Myrthe are also blogging about their current fieldwork in Ghana, which you can follow here.

Poster presented at NI mid-term meeting February 19, 2015

Details for various other projects upon request