I am an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences in TU Delft. I study the resilience of the built environment, its assessment and management, paying special attention to the impact of climate change upon the interconnected infrastructure systems. I have made significant contributions to the field by providing tools to assess infrastructure systems resilience, and developing managerial frameworks including aspects such as political decisions and socio-economic uncertainties.
My participation in international research projects dealing with the resilience of interconnected systems, such as the FP7 RAIN project and the H2020 RESILENS project, has allowed me to develop methods and strategies that can be applied by managers and practitioners in their daily activities and strategic plans to achieve structures and infrastructure systems that are proved to be more resilient. As a result, I have informed policies and decision-makers as shown by my participation in the Committee on the Effect of climate change under the actions to support European policies and standards led by the European Joint Research Centre (JRC), and my participation in the Resource Guide on Resilience edited by the International Risk Governance Council (IRGC).
Also, I have presented my work in a number of international events, such as the International Forum on Engineering Decision Making (IFED) and the Advanced Research Workshop on Resilience organised by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
I am involved as an associated scientist within 4TU RE because it creates a unique platform to build a robust community of scientists and practitioners who are resilience-oriented thinkers and doers. I actively participate in meetings and support the different activities organised by the group by providing inputs based on my experience and previous work. Collaborative work is always fostered in this context, which is, under my view, a great added value of 4TU RE.
Improving the resilience of the built environment will potentially impact upon the security and competitiveness of critical sectors. Strategies to increase infrastructure resilience should include both, physical adaptations of the built environment in conjunction with changes to the management strategies. 4TU RE enables this multifaceted approach required to build a resilient future.
I was an associated tenure-track researcher in the 4TU.DeSIRE programme.