Learning and Innovation in Resilient Systems

The need for adaptation and transformation

While resilience has often been associated with continued performance and stability of certain systems under stress, it is interpreted here in a way that emphasizes the need for adaptation and transformation. Resilience has become a key term explaining the performance of actors, organizations, and systems under external change that potentially disrupts their functioning. The research program is based on the notion that these challenges exist throughout societies, and also pertain to so called social-ecological systems, and human-technology relations. As a consequence, LIRS integrates various insights from social and behavioral sciences, computer sciences and natural sciences to tackle some of the modern challenges that emerge at the intersection of social, economic, environmental and technological systems.
The general aim of LIRS is to increase our understanding of the innovative and learning capacity of resilient systems, with a focus on (1) information and computer systems, (2) organizational and management systems, and (3) environmental, cultural as well as justice systems.

Multidisciplinary analysis

The main focus of the research line is the multidisciplinary analysis of resilient systems, as social transformations are multilayered and multifaceted. As such transformations emerge at the intersection of social, technological and environmental systems, only multidisciplinary research can generate valuable insights into how to embark on them. It is the ambition of the LIRS program to involve as many researchers as possible from the OU of the Netherlands in further research projects aimed at dealing with such complex challenges. The heterogeneity of the scientific disciplines represented in the OU, creates a natural research environment that facilitates the comprehensive and multi-dimensional analysis of various complex systems.

Recently started projects

• Minimizing the environmental impact of (micro)plastics by integrated modelling of supply and source-to-impact chains 
• Smart Technology Use for Resilient Healthcare: Developing an Intervention Toolbox to Stimulate Smart Use of Electronic Health Records in Hospitals Using a Multidisciplinary Approach 
• ISI – Interpersonal Stress Intervention with AI  
• Social learning and the climate crisis. Small-scale food production as an inspiration for a sustainable global food supply chain?
• Burnout’s Lessons in Resilience and Sustainable Development from a Multidisciplinary Perspective
• Resilient Information Security Governance & Management
• Improving financial literacy among small business owners: A theory and evidence-based approach to enhancing financial resilience of small businesses
• The impact of big data and predictive analytics on patient agility in hospitals
• Better tools, less conflicts. Value pluralism and social learning for better biodiversity decisions. Lessons for the private and the public sectors
• Drop by Drop: Facilitating the Energy-saving Behavior of Smart House/Office Inhabitants using AI and Gamification
   

Read more

Read more on the research line, the themes and projects on the website Learning and innovation in Resilient Systems.