Wellbeing in Crisis

Bas Becker is an Organizational Science PhD Candidate conducting research at the crossroads of technology, work, and organizing. His project focuses on the social repercussions of implementing artificial intelligence (AI) clinical decision-support systems, exploring their impact on organizational decision-making processes. Using an ethnographic approach, he zooms in on the practices of Dutch healthcare professionals, deciphering how they interpret, justify, and depend on algorithmic output in clinical decision-making. His research, conducted within the ICU department of a large academic hospital, sheds light on changes in daily clinical practices resulting from AI algorithm implementation. By investigating the technology's value in decision-making, he aims to enhance its effectiveness and integration within the medical field. His research interests include sociotechnical approach, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, ethnography and sociomateriality healthcare.

Kees Boersma, is a professor of Socio-Technical Innovation and Societal Resilience at VU Amsterdam. With a focus on crisis governance, innovation, and technology, he brings expertise to both the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Science, Business & Innovation group. As a co-founder of the Crisis Resilience Academy and a former board member of the Association Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM), he aims to contribute to understanding innovations in crisis and disaster management and emergency response. His research focuses on the unintended consequences of crises on societal and organizational members. Currently leading the EU Horizon grant project "SYNERGIES," he is committed to enhancing disaster preparedness and fostering synergy in Disaster Risk Management projects. At VU, he directs the Master's Programme Science, Business, and Innovation (SBI), contributing to the realms of crisis management, safety, and security.

Lianne (A.L.) Cremers is a visual and medical anthropologist, who works as an assistant professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research focuses on human responses to infectious diseases, notably tuberculosis and COVID-19. In her work, she aims to assess participatory governance and sense-making processes around health crises and how these are deeply entangled with embodied experiences, societal resilience, and structural violence. With her use of visual methods, she has made several ethnographic films about her research: https://vimeo.com/user69279402

Kim van Erp is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences, specializing in conflict, crisis negotiation, and decision-making within healthcare contexts. With a central focus on understanding diverse perspectives and stakeholder interests, her research integrates scientific knowledge into the complexities of real-world healthcare situations. Currently supervising pioneering PhD research, Kim explores the intricacies of open communication following healthcare incidents and the concept of the learning organization within the nursing home sector. Previous research initiatives include strategies for managing challenging bystanders and interventions for ambulance teams. She possesses expertise in Organizational Psychology, Conflict Management, and Resilience, delving into conflict psychology, resilience dynamics, and multilevel analyses.

Ludo Glimmerveen, is an Assistant Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Organisation Sciences. His research revolves around how professional care organizations negotiate the boundaries of citizen engagement in professional care work and how this interacts with broader notions of ‘good’ care and ‘good’ management of such. He is currently involved in the Horizon European Project WELL CARE, which investigates the mental wellbeing and resilience of long-term care workers, and informal carers through the identification evaluation and promotion of good practices across Europe.

Patrizia Hoyer is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Organization Sciences and an expert on ‘career identity’, investigating the link between professional identity and wellbeing at work, for example by studying the impact of AI implementations on the professional identities of healthcare practitioners in Dutch hospitals. She has moreover collaborated on topics of elderly care, friendship at work and collaborative work practices. Since September 2023, Patrizia is leading this research group on ‘Wellbeing in Crisis’, addressing pressing issues concerning the impact of ‘global crises’ such as COVID-19 and the climate crisis, ‘work stress’, ‘precarious careers’ and ‘technology’ on the wellbeing of employees, with the particular goal of working towards more healthy and resilient individuals, organizations and society at large. 

Cato Janssen is a visual and organisational anthropologist at the VU Amsterdam and the University of Antwerp. Her research focuses on the (un)intended consequences of crises and crisis governance on societal and organisational members. Specifically, she has looked at the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and associated mitigation strategies on nursing home employees and secondary school students. Using creative methods - such as film or art - she aims to put emphasis on the experiences of societal actors in order to understand how they are affected by crises and formulate lessons learned that can inform inclusive and participatory governance. 

Yiannis Kyratsis, an experienced academic in management and organization studies, currently serves as Director of the Research & Innovation Lab on Health, Care & Wellbeing and Associate Professor in Organization Theory at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. With a rich background in healthcare management and organization studies, he delves into the diffusion and implementation of innovations, particularly in healthcare settings. His research interests include institutionalist accounts of organizational change, professional role-identity change, and health system reforms. Yiannis is a Senior Lecturer in Health Management and Leadership, holding visiting positions at Harvard University T.H. School of Public Health and City, University of London. He is recognized for his contributions to top management, medical, and health services research journals, reflecting his expertise in healthcare innovation, organizational transformation, and evidence-informed interventions.

Galina van der Weert is an assistant professor at the Talma Institute of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her areas of expertise are the governance of networks, and interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration in the healthcare sector. Currently, she is involved in a project with the department of Midwifery Sciences of AmsterdamUMC. This project aims to investigate variations in the organization of integrated care in the birth care sector and how these variations affect quality of care and quality of collaboration. Importantly, this project is executed in collaboration with birth care networks. Galina’s future plans are to incorporate digital technologies in her research; for example how regional variation in digital data sharing methods between healthcare organizations and professionals affects quality of care and quality of collaboration. 

Marieke van Wieringen, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Network Institute of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, specializes in researching the role of caregivers in individual healthcare. She focuses on the significant yet underrepresented group of certified nursing assistants in nursing home care and community nursing. Her work focuses on their professional identity, development, and organizational representation. Marieke investigates the challenges they face in participating in decision-making processes within healthcare organizations. She particularly explores how these challenges can be overcome, ensuring their voices are heard, and their unique expertise is optimally utilized. Her research interests also include the organization of healthcare within institutions and the training of student caregivers in the field.

Seda Yalcin, Assistant Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, holds a Master's degree in Human Rights from The London School of Economics and Political Science. She earned her PhD in Cultural Analysis from the University of Amsterdam, focusing on social entrepreneurship, human rights, inclusive business, ethnography, and anthropology. Her research includes diverse areas such as decision-making, adolescent issues, pregnancy, and health. With a keen interest in exploring the intersections of social entrepreneurship and human rights, Seda's work provides valuable insights into inclusive business practices and their impact on marginalized communities. Her expertise in ethnography and anthropology enriches the understanding of complex societal issues, contributing significantly to academic discourse.

HERoS was a Horizon 2020  project funded under the ‘SC1-PHE-CORONAVIRUS-2020 – Advancing knowledge for the clinical and public health response to the 2019-nCoV epidemic’ call. As a social sciences research project, HERoS addressed the need to understand the social dynamics of the outbreak and the related public health response. The work was conducted between April 2020 and 2023. The overall objective of HERoS was to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the response to the Covid-19 outbreak by generating actionable knowledge in four areas: governance, models in epidemics, medical supply chains, and online misinformation.

Team members involved: Kees Boersma, Lianne Cremers, Cato Janssen

WELL CARE is a project that invests in the mental health and wellbeing of informal carers and long-term care workers through the identification, evaluation, and promotion of good practices across Europe. It is a transdisciplinary and participative project in which informal carers and long-term care (LTC) workers, researchers, NGOs, experts and stakeholder organizations within health and social care, psychology, sociology and gerontology work together to strengthen supports available for improving the mental wellbeing and resilience of all carers. The project aims to increase the understanding of successful ways of preventing and managing mental health and wellbeing issues among informal carers and LTC workers. This includes looking at personal factors, the environment, and how organizations can make solutions successful.

Team member involved: Ludo Glimmerveen

DESTRESS aims at the timely detection and early intervention on stress signals to promote organizational and individual resilience. The project envisions a solution for organizations and their employees to keep each other resilient and healthy. It aims for proactive detection of stress at an early stage, so it can facilitate a safe and collaborative dialogue between employers and employees at a time that they are both still able to see their co-dependency and mutual interests, while acknowledging the possible tension of conflicting interests. The project will use an Impact Plan Approach in which a Theory of Change (the DESTRESS Strategy) directs research activities that identify problems and causes, determine the required change to overcome them, and adjust the DESTRESS strategy to make improvements that are necessary to invoke that change. Subsequently, the DESTRESS strategy will be translated into the DESTRESS solution, for which a strategy for implementation and evaluation will be devised.

Team member involved: Patrizia Hoyer