Ron Janssen specializes in decision support for environmental and spatial management. His main topics of research are decision analysis, spatial analysis/evaluation and spatial planning and design. Most research activities focus on the effective use of information in environmental decision-making and the development of spatial decision support systems. A current topic of interest is the use of geodesign to support interactive land use planning workshops. Examples are the design of a land use plan for the lower Zambezi valley, design of regional adaptation strategies for the Frisian peat meadow areas, locating tidal devices around the Mull of Kintyre, and land use planning in the Provinces of Friesland, Drenthe and Utrecht as well as in Dinkel catchment in the west of the Netherlands.
Ron Janssen also specializes in the use of multicriteria analysis. Together with his colleague Marjan van Herwijnen he developed a software package to support discrete choice problems (DEFINITE/BOSDA) which is widely used both in the Netherlands and worldwide. In recent projects multicriteria analysis is used to support interactive stakeholder workshops. Examples are stakeholder workshops on waste management strategies in Liverpool, Amsterdam and Stockholm, workshops on management of invasive species in the Black Sea in Bulgaria and Turkey and workshops on fisheries management in South Africa.
- Using geodesign to support stakeholder workshops in the lower Zambezi Valley (Ministerio de planificacao e desenvolvimento and Agencia de desenvolvimento do vale do Zambeze).
- WasteEcosmart Optimisation of Integrated Solid Waste Management Strategies for the Maximisation of Resource Efficiency. WP4 Preparation of a Decision Support Framework for the design of Resource Efficiency Management (FP7-REGIONS-2012-2013).
- Valuation of ecosystem services on Anguilla. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Peterborough.
- Valuation of ecosystem services within the British Virgin Island. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee, (JNCC) Peterborough.
- Designing regional adaptation strategies in the Frisian peat meadow areas: evaluating the effectiveness of management options to maintain or transform this landscape under different scenarios of change (KvK Hotspot Veenweide, Wetterskip Fryslan en Provincie Fryslan.
- European Seas and Territorial Development Opportunities and Risks (ESaTDOR) (ESPON 2010-2013).
