I am intrigued by the combination of resilience and engineering which the 4TU RE Centre makes possible. When done well, I think both approaches make each other stronger. Resilience is a fundamental feature of healthy living systems in coping with internal and external disturbances. Resilience thinking is intuitive and holistic, as well as dynamic and uncertain. But resilience thinking can easily become too vague to be applied in practice. Engineering, on the other hand, is all about robustness, calculation, certainty and practicality. I think engineering can blend more rigor and realism into resilience thinking to make it operational for practical problems. By doing so, together they can make supply chains, infrastructure, networks and cities- future proof.
My research focusses on risk and information management in agri-food supply chains. In this domain, external shock or pressure comes from extreme climate, such as flooding or drought, but also from geo-political changes, like an export boycott.
I am really curious to find out how this exact engineering approach can strengthen resilience thinking in the 4TU RE Centre. I would like to help connect research strengths from the different universities, both as a scientist and as a member of the coordinating team.