Major NWO grant for research on better collaboration in infrastructure maintenance
A consortium led by Prof. Dirk Pieter van Donk has been awarded an NWO grant worth EUR 500,000 for research on how to improve large-scale infrastructure maintenance and renewal projects. Such joint projects can be carried out at a lower cost and with less inconvenience (better accessibility during roadworks, for instance), but infrastructure managers often struggle with how to realize these benefits. Organizing the collaboration and aligning various interests and schedules has proven to be more difficult than expected. The specific characteristics of the sector thus give rise to challenging questions for science, say the researchers.
‘This type of infrastructure project could mean relatively simple jobs such as maintenance work on underground gas and water mains and the roads above them, but it could also mean large, complex operations in which maintenance must be performed on waterways, bridges, roads and railway lines in one location simultaneously,’ says Van Donk, Professor of Operations Management at the Faculty of Economy and Business (FEB) at the University of Groningen. ‘It is our goal to develop optimization models, organizational structures and processes that will eventually help improve collaboration in such maintenance projects.’
Collective Resilience
The research proposal is a joint project of Van Donk and FEB researchers Dr Peter Essens, Prof. Gerben van der Vegt, Dr Kirstin Scholten, Dr Bram de Jonge and Dr Thom de Vries. The project illustrates the interdisciplinary approach within FEB’s Collective Resilience signature area. The external partners in the consortium are water company Vitens, Schiphol Airport, energy network company Alliander and the Port of Rotterdam. NWO and NGinfra are funding the research from the Next Generation Infrastructures, Responsive Innovations scheme. The grants will fund two PhD research projects into ‘joint maintenance planning models’ and ‘multi-stakeholder coordination and collaboration’.
Further information
- Contact: Dirk Pieter van Donk
________________________________________________
> More news from the Faculty of Economics and Business
> FEB experts in the media
Last modified: | 29 February 2024 10.02 a.m. |
More news
-
13 May 2024
Trapping molecules
In his laboratory, physicist Steven Hoekstra is building an experimental set-up made of two parts: one that produces barium fluoride molecules, and a second part that traps the molecules and brings them to an almost complete standstill so they can...
-
08 May 2024
Juliette de Wit, Femke Cnossen and Maite Laméris receive YAG grant
Juliette de Wit, Femke Cnossen and Maite Laméris have received a YAG Grant of € 6,000 for an interdisciplinary project on the long-lasting socio-economic consequences of the ‘Arbeitseinsatz’ in the Netherlands. The grant enables them to explore...
-
02 May 2024
Johan Remkes te gast in podcast Leiderschap in Onzekere Tijden Live
Oud-minister en oud-informateur Johan Remkes is op 15 mei te gast in de Podcast Leiderschap In Onzekere Tijden. In de liveopname van de podcastaflevering gaat hij met FEB-hoogleraren Janka Stoker en Harry Garretsen in gesprek over de huidige...