Wellbeing in Crisis

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Wellbeing in Crisis

The research group “Wellbeing in Crisis” addresses issues of wellbeing in the context of work and organizations. We study the impact of global crises, work stress and technological developments – especially AI, on the wellbeing of organizations and their employees. Our overall aims is to contribute to healthier and more resilient individuals, organizations and society at large.

In recent years, we have witnessed how global crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the climate crisis, as well as financial crises, have profoundly impacted organizations in the form of increased uncertainty, organizational trauma, and stress. Under the influence of neo-liberal policies, organizations have become even more vulnerable and fragile. In this process, the wellbeing of employees has been largely compromised, while work stress is becoming a prevalent symptom of our time.

In our research group ‘Wellbeing in Crisis’, we explore the implications of these crises on organizations and its members with the aim to develop both theoretical as well as practical avenues towards organizational healing and collective resilience.

Across our various research projects, in collaboration with many research partners in different countries, we apply a relational understanding of wellbeing, which does not assume that the responsibility for wellbeing rests on the shoulders of individuals. Instead, we explore how experiences of distress, social support, and resilience are co-constructed within existing organizational cultures and networks. With a change agenda of working towards more healthy and resilient individuals, organizations and society at large, we examine the possibilities of transformative change through the introduction of participatory approaches, creative interventions as well as the use of AI for more sustainable and inclusive work practices.

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We combine expertise in AI, organizational change and innovations in healthcare settings; disaster relief, crisis governance and related to this - organizational trauma and healing; issues around professional identity and the professionalization of healthcare professionals; conflict, negotiations and collaborations in networks; citizen engagement and issues of neurodiversity.

Besides our individual projects, the aim of the research group is to engage in team science, where we address the wellbeing of employees in healthcare settings such as hospitals and nursing homes, the professionalization of nurses across different contexts, as well as the notion of wellbeing as an increasingly popular ‘commodity’ or discourse used in large corporate organizations. We share a relational understanding of wellbeing as embedded withing larger social, cultural and organizational discourses. Our goal is to work towards systemic change that increases the wellbeing of individuals, organizations and society, especially through means of accessible science communication, including ethnographic films, art exhibitions, photo series, science cartoons, or podcasts. In this way, we create spaces for reflection, participation, and creative interventions.

Team Members

Bas Becker

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

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 Cremers

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

Elisabet Doodeman

Elisabet Doodeman is a PhD candidate at the Department of Organization Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research takes a relational approach to wellbeing, examining how it is produced in everyday work practices and relationships. She studies social workers as a key site of inquiry, focusing on how they navigate institutional demands, professional values, and the wellbeing of both clients and themselves, while also engaging more broadly with questions of care work and voluntary action.

Kim van Erp

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

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

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

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

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.

Fatou Ndoye

Fatou Ndoye is in the final year of her PhD at the Institute of Health and Development (ISED), Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (UCAD), and a researcher in the Department of Organization Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her work focuses on the psychosocial dimensions of epidemics, global health security, and One Health approaches. She contributes to research and publications on relational wellbeing from Global South perspectives, with a particular interest in how social capital, community relationships, and local knowledge can support resilience during crises. Her research bridges social sciences and global health, with a focus on connecting community health realities with health policy and practice. f.ndoye@vu.nl  

Megan van der Vorst

Megan van der Vorst is an organizational anthropologist who works at the Department of Organization Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is currently conducting her PhD research as part of DESTRESS-NL, a Dutch multidisciplinary consortium focused on workplace stress. Megans research investigates how organizational cultures shape what stress means in everyday working life. She focuses on high-performance or “extreme” work settings where intense pressure is often treated as part of the job. Using ethnographic methods, she explores how people narrate and live with such pressure, and how this becomes intertwined with their sense of who they are at work. m.e.van.der.vorst2@vu.nl    

Galina van der Weert

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

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

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.

Projects

HERoS

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

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

DESTRESS is a multidisciplinary public-private consortium focused on timely detection of stress signals and early intervention in order to promote organizational and individual resilience. The project envisions a solution that supports organizations and employees in remaining resilient and healthy. It aims for proactive detection of stress at an early stage, so that it can facilitate safe and collaborative dialogue between employers and employees while they are still able to recognize their co-dependency and mutual interests, while also acknowledging possible tensions and conflicting interests.  

The work package our team members are responsible for approaches wellbeing at work as a relational and organizational matter. Stress does not enter the workplace as a self-evident signal; it has to be noticed, named, and made discussable. This is complicated because pressure often belongs to the very work people care about. In some settings, it is tied to excellence and ambition; in others, to moral responsibility and the need to keep going when people depend on you. What becomes a warning sign in one organization may be treated in another as dedication, professionalism, or simply the way the work is done. By studying these complex contextual differences, we contribute to the DESTRESS project by providing insights into context-sensitive strategies for recognizing and addressing work stress in diverse organizational settings.

Team member involved: Patrizia Hoyer

Meet our team