This research investigates the experience of belonging among individuals with invisible disabilities in the workplace, with a focus on fostering inclusivity. More specifically, within the workspace of the company Flatland, a creative strategy and visualisation agency. This research is an extension of their efforts in the realms of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D.E.I.).
Research question: How can the organisation of Flatland add to the inclusion and feeling of belonging for people with invisible disabilities within their organisation?

Motivation
The research is also deeply personal, as I, the author, have an ‘invisible’ disability. Throughout the research, I have used insight stemming from both my own and others’ experiences. Prioritising qualitative data and lived experiences.
The recognition of the importance of D.E.I. efforts in companies and in society, in general, is growing. However, in many aspects the research and understanding are still severely lacking. Specifically, in the realms of disability and invisible disability inclusion, there are many knowledge gaps and misconceptions. Here I see the need for more lived experience data to close those gaps.

Approach
In chapter 3 a lens for understanding the invisibly disabled experience is created. This research uses the social perspective on disability:

“[Disability] results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis”

Having an invisible impairment produces extra workloads. An aspect of that is interpersonal, where advocating for oneself is both essential and challenging due to misconceptions and misunderstandings. The research further focuses on the intangible feeling of feelings like belonging. Here a belonging spectrum is introduced to further analyse findings.
The first step in collecting qualitative data is a creative session held with the employees of Flatland. Here the concepts of disability, invisible disability, and belonging are introduced and explored. Through the analysis of the drawings made in the session conclusions are drawn on their expressions of belonging and their understanding and view of disability. One finding was how the drawings on belonging favoured the more concrete right side of the belonging spectrum, often leaving out the left side that focuses more on the perspectives around thoughts and feelings. For the context of Flatland, the definition of belonging was defined as:

“ My place within this group is unquestioned. Within this space I can experiment, move, take up space, and express myself as I wish and am. “

After gathering the perspective from inside Flatland research is conducted on the experiences of the invisibly disabled. Several participants are asked to fill in an assignment booklet which then forms the basis of the interviews, a method called context mapping.

The booklet has assignments on the experience of disability: belonging and receiving help. The reporting of the results focuses on retaining the complexities of this lived experience, which display complicated relationships with receiving help.

Conclusion
The conversations that were held through the booklets brought up many topics that could be linked back to the belonging spectrum and more specifically those emotional, intangible aspects. The use of this research tool made space in conversation to discuss aspects of belonging. This finding brought us to the suggestion of implementing the research booklet as a tool within Flatland. As a first step to open up these conversations and make deliberate space for the emotional aspects of belonging. The added value being that this will be especially beneficial to the invisibly disabled, for whom the onus of advocating for themselves will slightly shift to the company. However, these conversations could have a curb-cut effect and benefit all employees.
The research ends on a discussion of what topics are not covered but deserve further attention and how the research is and isn’t representative. A vitally important part of any research so intertwined and critical of representation.

This thesis involves the development and testing of an educational tool named ”Playlist,” aimed at improving the learning experience of Computer Science & Engineering bachelor students at the TU Delft. The Playlist tool was developed as a feature for the existing tool called Skill Circuits, supporting students in creating personalized sequences of learning activities for their study sessions. This research contributes to the complexities of modern digital learning environments and the challenges students face in navigating vast amounts of educational content.

This report holds the full description of the integrated thesis. The first part including the chapters of ”Fostering a personal sequence of learning activities in Skill Circuits”.
The study uses a design-based research approach, which involves iterative development and research cycles and including students in the evaluation phases. By drawing on educational theories and addressing practical needs identified at TU Delft, the Playlist tool was designed to seamlessly integrate into the existing learning environment. The tool’s functionalities were prioritized based on user feedback provided by Computer Science students and gathered through surveys and focus group sessions.

Key findings indicate that playlists can improve student engagement, motivation, and overall learning experience by supporting students in finding learning activities aligned with their learning preferences and goals. The research highlights the importance of providing students with tools that improve navigating the learning environment and support them in self-directed learning. The Playlist feature not only aids students in organizing their learning activities but also promotes a holistic approach to education by incorporating supporting activities such as reflection and taking breaks.

The integrated thesis hopes to demonstrate the potential and importance of designing tools to personalize learning and support students in achieving their learning goals. It also explains why personalization tools in higher education should be implemented in an iterative manner.

This report holds a subset of an integrated thesis involving the development and testing of an educational tool named ”Playlist,” aimed at improving the learning experience of Computer Science & Engineering bachelor students at the TU Delft. The Playlist tool was developed as a feature for the existing tool called Skill Circuits, supporting students in creating personalized sequences of learning activities for their study sessions. The integrated research contributes to the complexities of modern digital learning environments and the challenges students face in navigating vast amounts of educational content.  The study uses a design-based research approach, which involves iterative development and research cycles and including students in the evaluation phases. This report focuses on the description and design of these phases. For each phase, it then reports on how the design of the Playlist tool utilized user feedback gathered through surveys and focus group sessions with Computer Science students.  Key findings in the integrated thesis indicate that playlists can improve student engagement, motivation, and overall learning experience by supporting students in finding learning activities aligned with their learning preferences and goals. The research highlights the importance of providing students with tools that improve navigating the learning environment and support them in self-directed learning. The Playlist feature not only aids students in organizing their learning activities but also promotes a holistic approach to education by incorporating supporting activities such as reflection and taking breaks.  The integrated thesis makes two contributions: it serves as an example of the design and implementation of personalization tools in higher education and provides insights into integrating such tools into an existing educational system. The thesis aims to demonstrate the potential of designing tools in an iterative manner to personalize learning and support students in achieving their learning goals.

The Delft University of Technology wants their teachers to create and publish Open Educational Resources (OER). And even though they have an OER policy in place, creating and publishing OER is not yet a common practice. Therefore, this research aims to answer the question “How can a communication tool be used to help increase the creation and/or publishing of (little) OER at the Industrial Design Engineering faculty?”. It does so by taking a design-based approach and using the double diamond method.

This thesis starts by using literature to create a combined framework which combined the reasoned action approach with the OER adoption pyramid. This combined framework showed multiple factors that are relevant in influencing the motivation of teachers to create or publish OER. These motivational factors were incorporated into the questions and topics that were discussed in the semi structured interviews. The outcome of the interviews was compiled into a causal loop diagram that showed how different factors influence the willingness of teachers to create or publish OER. The causal loop diagram also showed how some factors could be both a driver and barrier depending on the situation. Based on the interview results the critical nodes were identified in the causal loop diagram. The critical nodes being: available time, perceived institutional support, perceive time and effort it cost to publish OER, clarity in expectations of OER, social responsibility to create/publish OER, Sharing ER with colleagues.

Using the critical nodes, a design goal was formulated. This design goal resulted in the design of a roadmap that laid out the phases in which the TU Delft can support IDE teachers in publishing their educational resources as open educational resources. The first phase addresses the creation of a designated support team and spreading awareness about OER. The second phase outlines that teachers first publish in a closed system, since sharing their material with colleagues is something teachers already do. During the second phase the educational material will also be improved via peer-to-peer feedback and the support team will ensure the quality. In the final phase the material will be published as open educational resource.

In conclusion, using this roadmap should make it easier to increase the creation and publication of OER at the IDE faculty by lowering barriers for teachers and playing into teachers’ drivers. For further research, it is recommended to validate the design and look into possible differences between teachers for master and bachelor courses.

Train drivers are challenged to stay alert during train driving, for a big part due to the limited amount of tasks, and monotony of tasks. Driver condition monitoring (DCM) is a technology that involves measuring the driver’s alertness state in real-time, in which use of eye-based measurements is considered. Since DCM’s are upcoming in car and truck industry, train operators are now also showing interest in this technology to improve alertness. New technologies however are often resisted in railway operator companies, shown by strikes and works council involvement, and currently, it is unknown how drivers recognize and deal with alertness in the first place. Also for implementing DCM’s in the future, it is unknown what is required for such DCM feedback designs for acceptance to be promoted. This research thus aims to investigate how acceptance of train drivers can be promoted in a DCM feedback system. Considering a DCM system that can measure eye-directions, blinking behavior and gaze fixations, theoretical insights propose that you can use these measurements to infer driver distraction, sleepiness and mind-wandering. Theoretical approaches towards acceptance of technologies are generally focused on influencing the in-tention to use a technology. Generally used is Technology Acceptance model for evaluating acceptance of various technologies, proposing that the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are important to model an intention to use, and actual use of such DCM technology.
An explorative, qualitative approach led to conducting focus groups with train drivers and office employees to investigate the sensitive topic of alertness. In total, four train drivers and four office employees participated. To analyze the results qualitatively, thematic analysis was performed by coding iteratively. For current alertness strategies, the results showed that drivers recognize sleepiness the most, while fatigue and mind-wandering (task-related tiredness) are perceived as similar to sleepiness. Distraction was not recognized, as they are occupied more with a ’distributing’ and ’prioritizing’ their attention. Designing DCM feedback in a way that promotes acceptance is proposed to consider how drivers find a device useful, how their perceptions of autonomy and competence are influenced, and how to foster the trust towards the organization with respect to data use. The conclusions call for considering both rational factors (perceived usefulness) and affective factors (as a feeling of competence and autonomy might be related to intrinsic motivation) in the design of alertness feedback systems for train drivers.

This graduation project is part of a double degree program for the master’s in Biomedical Engineering and Communication Design for Innovation, conducted at the Cardio-Respiratory Engineering And TEchnology laboratory (CREATElab) in Melbourne, Australia.

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death globally, with out-of-hospital cardiac arrests often resulting in poor outcomes due to prolonged periods of compromised blood flow. Prehospital extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (pECPR) offers a promising rescue intervention to reduce treatment delays. This design study improved the RApidly DEployable (RADE) ECPR kit prototype 1.0, which demonstrates full ECPR equipment compatibility for prehospital settings while streamlining the treatment workflow. Based on clinical insights, prototype 2.0 aimed to optimize the RADE ECPR kit’s speed and performance. Testing with clinicians at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne showed significant improvements in deployability, equipment organization, and overall usability compared to the conventional pECPR suitcase and prototype 1.0.

Additionally, this study examined the impact of leadership absence on innovative scientific performance. While the effects of leadership gaps on research teams remain underexplored, the departure of the CREATElab’s Director provided a unique opportunity to evaluate the challenges and consequences of such disruptions. Using a mixed-method approach, the findings revealed that leadership absence hindered collaboration and motivation, shifting lab dynamics toward task-oriented isolation. Shared decision-making and distributed leadership were identified as communication strategies to sustain innovation during such gaps, with The CREATElab Challenge offering a gamified solution to strengthen connectivity and morale.

The studies highlight the critical role of engineering design optimization in improving outcomes for cardiac arrest patients and underscore the importance of adaptive communication strategies in sustaining scientific innovation, particularly in challenging circumstances.

Gender stereotypical beliefs play a role in everyone’s life, whether people impose personal and subjective norms on themselves, or judge others based on these existing beliefs. Gender stereotypes present a limited and inaccurate representation of reality’s complexity and have the ability to evoke pain and backlash. The goal of this master’s graduation project was to increase awareness about gender stereotypes and the thereof deriving effects on people. This project is part of a double degree program, in which the masters ‘Design for Interaction’ and ‘Communication Design for Innovation’ are combined. This meant that the objective was applied in two contexts with both a specific target group, namely Dutch high school students (aged 15 to 18) and academic professionals working within the TU Delft.

Through a non-systematic literature research further understanding of gender stereotypes and the resulting impact on people was achieved. In modern western society, gender is generally viewed from a binary perspective. But gender isn’t a category with only two variables. The interpretation of gender is socially constructed, and can differ per culture and can change overtime. Gender stereotypes are learned from a young age, children as old as 18 months will start to comprehend them. This goes to show that gender stereotypes play an influential role during a large part of people’s lives. It also indicated that gender stereotypical beliefs are deeply rooted and unconscious, which makes challenging them harder.

Additional to literature research, empirical research activities were performed. These existed of a mini experiment in which eight participants were asked about concepts related to gender, three interviews with academic professionals and an exploration of currently available informative media for teenagers. The conclusions drawn from these empirical research efforts are as follows. When aiming to increase awareness, it does help to encounter multiple perspectives on gender and gender stereotypes. Additionally, it is beneficial to be able to communicate with others about the matter. The created design concepts aim to do just that and should provide the target groups with guidance in the process of increasing awareness about gender stereotypes.

In the context of high school students, the design concept created is a teaching method. In five classroom sessions teenagers are brought in contact with different perspectives on gender, can have conversations about the topic with peers and are guided in reflection. Between the lessons the students work on an individual assignment. To support the teenagers in their learning efforts, different teaching materials were created. These are for example games, a quiz, worksheets and subject inspiration-cards. For the academic professionals a dialogue intervention was designed. During a ten step process these professionals are guided in sharing a personal experience related to gender stereotypes. The aim is to establish conversation amongst each other about these stories. The steps of the process were based on a conversation with a dialogue expert, the method of appreciative inquiry and a three-step model from awareness to action. Based on initial evaluation both design concepts seem to be promising in achieving their objectives. Further testing could help to get an even better understanding of the usefulness of both concepts and could lead to design iterations.

This research is a case study investigating the effect of participation in the development process of a network-based scientist-journalist recommender system on the mental model of digital innovation of a team of communication professionals from Delft University of Technology and Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

Communication professionals at research institutes are tasked with connecting scientists and journalists. The recommender system supports this process by recommending scientist-journalist connections based on data from previous collaborations. A scientist collaboration network, a journalist collaboration network and a scientist-journalist collaboration network are combined into a multilayer network. A recommender system is designed based on centrality metrics in the scientist and journalist collaboration networks and distance metrics in the multilayer network. In contrast to traditional link prediction problems - which aim to predict what links are most likely to form in the network - the problem in this thesis is how to recommend the most likely link for a single node, i.e. the most likely scientist links for a given journalist or most likely journalist links for a given scientist. A novel evaluation method is created to evaluate the performance of the recommender system.

The development of this system is used as a vessel to research how participation in a digital development process affects the mental model of digital innovation. This research contributes to addressing the lack of understanding of how to develop a mental model that facilitates innovation in the context of digital transformation. Three themes were identified in their mental model change: The extent to which innovation requires involvement, the complexity of innovation processes and what outcomes can realistically be expected of a digital innovation process. The team went from a model of digital innovation as 'a mysterious black box' - something external, where they could hand in a list of requirements and walk away with a digital tool - to a 'super puppy' that can do remarkable things, but has to be trained and interacted with to get a desired effect.

A recent study in The Netherlands, reports an expected shortage of 140,000 healthcare employees by 2031. Two main reasons for this shortage are an increased demand for healthcare and a shortage on the healthcare labour market. The irregular shifts and unconventional working hours make nurses quit their profession or refrain others from applying. This thesis explores the effect of scheduling decisions on job satisfaction of nurses in Dutch hospitals. Applying mathematical optimization, we examine if nurse satisfaction can be improved and at what cost. Incorporating results from interviews and a survey, this thesis presents a formulation of the nurse scheduling problem including both capacity coverage and nurse satisfaction in the problem’s objective. The problem is solved using an exact (mixed integer programming) approach and a heuristic based on a Variable Neighbourhood Search approach. Using benchmark instances for the nurse scheduling problem, results show that nurse satisfaction can be improved at no cost of capacity coverage. Since these results are based on only simulated preferences, the thesis ends with some suggestions for further research.

The operating rooms (OR) in hospitals is a complex system, with a high number of innovations every year. Therefore the healthcare professionals (HCPs) are required to choose between the several aspects and innovations for the OR. Decision-making requires a mutual vision (Littlejohn et al., 2017) and should be based on evidence (Turner et al., 2017). To improve the well-informed decision-making, the main research question is: “How can a decision-support tool for optimisation in the operating room help a healthcare professional to select the objectives and the assessment criteria for performance optimisation of the operating room and the optimisation impact?”.

The evidence for the tool consists of the 223 relations between the objectives and the assessment criteria (metrics) and 253 causalities of metrics that express the impact. There is a high heterogeneous perspective on the objectives of the optimisation of the performance of the OR and the criteria of assessing the quantification of (the optimisation of) the OR performance, which makes it harder to create a mutual vision on the OR performance. To achieve a mutual vision, a holistic view and consider all the perspectives, including the impact of optimisations, the HCPs should all share their perspectives on the objectives and the situation should be considered in its whole (Leinonen et al., 2008; Littlejohn et al., 2017). Therefore, the decision-making process could benefit of a decision-support tool.

In this study a new tool is developed, namely the Performance Operating Room Counselling (PORC-)tool. This tool provides a holistic view of the OR performance (optimisation), by displaying evidence of the relations between objectives and metrics and the causalities. It also supports a conversation, which could lead to a mutual vision (Littlejohn et al., 2017). The tool is based on the concepts flowchart, matrix table and Microsoft Excel, for respectively the roadmap, the information display and the running-programme. The PORC-tool consists of an Excel file, a brochure and a manual with a more elaborated version of the functionality and the steps. The PORC-tool provides a clear and structural overview with evidence, to gather information more easily, provides multiple perspectives on the OR performance and supports to gather more insight into the OR organisation and goals before the decision-making of the HCP. The PORC-tool should be validated in practice and the functionality should be approved by HCPs. In the future, the tool can also be extended on perspectives, field of interest, aesthetics and functionality. To conclude, the answer to the main research question is that the HCPs should be facilitated to consider the whole complex system in their decision-making process, and support the decision-making based on evidence and with a mutual vision.

This thesis has been written to conclude the master’s programs Design for Interaction and Communication Design for Innovation. The focus of this thesis is on the digital transformation within the de Volkskrant organisation and was commissioned by DPG Media, de Volkskrant’s parent company.
Since the digital transformation started, de Volkskrant has been struggling to keep up with technological developments. Partly because they rely on DPG Media to facilitate the infrastructure of their digital products, but within the de Volkskrant organisation, there is a lack of vision on what de Volkskrant should be as a digital medium. Therefore, this thesis explores the possibilities and challenges de Volkskrant currently faces and how the context, readers and organisation all play a role in that.
I used two methods; Human-Centred Design(UCD) and Design-Based Research (DBR). From this research, I concluded that the service that should be designed for de Volkskrant should be a mobile application. The interaction vision for this mobile application is the following: The mobile app guides the de Volkskrant reader through the articles and archives of de Volkskrant. It supports them in learning new things and exploring new perspectives. After reading digital news, readers feel in control, empowered, and accomplished. Additionally, some advice to the de Volkskrant organization was developed: By becoming a digital-first organisation, de Volkskrant can accelerate its digital transformation. It should play to its strengths of being a brand that readers go to for its good analytical articles and columnists. Additionally, it should use the development of its digital products as opportunities for change by involving all levels of the organisation into the design process. Thus, the result of this thesis is a proposal for a mobile app design as well as advice for the de Volkskrant organisation on how to accelerate the transition to a digital-first mindset and utilise the design process along the way to incite change within the company. To summarise, de Volkskrant should implement features into the mobile implication such as Dossiers, that bundle articles, and Overview, which provide a visual overview of articles, to not only create a better reading experience but to increase collaboration between departments as well.

A fair part of the surface of the Netherlands consists of peat grounds. A large part of these grounds is used for livestock farming. However, the peat needs to be dried to prevent cows and other cattle from sinking with their hooves into the soft, wet peat. This drying starts a process called oxidation. This reaction with oxygen in the air and warm sunlight results in the forming of CO2 and some methane gas, which are added to the atmosphere. Since this contributes considerably to the CO2 emissions in the Netherlands, it requires solutions to stop the oxidation process and the subsequent subsidence. It seems impossible to find a solution for this problem with which every stakeholder can agree. Five main stakeholder groups are identified in this research: the research organisations, the agricultural stakeholders, the water management organisations, the nature preservation organisations, and the administrative bodies. These parties all have their own worldview and their own ideas about the situation. This forms a controversy, which contains many different elements and different actors, in which the different stakeholder groups disagree on different elements. This controversy slows down the process of stopping the oxidation of the peat meadow grounds. Therefore, the end goal of this research is on the one hand for the different stakeholder groups to gain insight in the motives of the viewpoints of the counteracting parties. On the other hand, a new base for these stakeholder groups should be formed in which a productive situation for (renewed) collaboration is created, which can lead to more effective conversations on the future solutions in peat meadow areas. This study is approached using the methodology concept of Design-based Research.
To create a situation in which stakeholders can work together towards a solution instead of just focusing on their own priorities, the stakeholders should take a step back and build trust on other levels with the different stakeholder groups. This should help them to open up to insights that other stakeholders may have, which could lead to a situation in which they could work together. With this as a foundation, a participatory tool was chosen that could help to build a situation for a more effective collaboration: a serious game. The digital board game ‘Samen door het veen' (translation: Together through the peat) was designed, played with representative players, and analysed with the concepts of collaboration and double loop learning. The results showed that the players built more trust during the game and gained more insight into the perspective of other players, so the game seems to achieve its goals quite well. It can be concluded that the game is fun to play and that it has quite some potential for stimulating double loop learning and creating a situation in which more effective collaboration could take place.

This Master Thesis project was the last assignment in obtaining a MSc degree in Science Communication at the Delft University of Technology. The focus of the project was on finding fitting leadership styles, structures, or behaviors that stimulate learning and help develop a learning mindset in a transdisciplinary collaboration context.To deal with the increasing complexity and urgency of societal issues – such as the aging population, climate change, and the energy transition – a new collaboration revolution has taken shape. This revolution, also referred to as convergence, is still very new. Articles available on what convergence, and the transdisciplinary collaboration as the new collaboration type therein entail, are rather vague and abstract. The HOW of the matter is not yet clear. Learning is inextricably linked to transdisciplinary collaboration due to its novelty. However, explicit attention has not been given to building in learning and a learning mindset in relation to transdisciplinary collaboration. Leadership and learning have had an existing link in literature, but have not been regarded in a setting of transdisciplinary collaboration. Taking leadership into account will enable the formulation and implementation of more concrete actions to move away from a still rather vague idea of transdisciplinary collaboration and towards actionable steps. Therefore, the combination of transdisciplinary collaboration, learning, and leadership is not only interesting and relevant from a research point of view but it will also directly influence the effectivity of convergence endeavors of the Erasmus Medical Centre (EMC), Erasmus University of Rotterdam (EUR), and Delft University of Technology (TUD) that are currently taking place. Research on the relation between transdisciplinary collaboration, learning, and leadership has not been conducted, and thus forms the main focus of this Master Thesis project. The main research question therefore is: What leadership styles, structures, or behaviors, suited for the transdisciplinary collaboration context of the Digital Twin project of the Health & Technology branch of the Convergence Agenda of the Erasmus Medical Centre, the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and the Delft University of Technology, stimulate and facilitate learning and help develop a learning mindset?Based on an extensive literature study, a qualitative study composed of semi-structured interviews with people involved in My Digital Twin – one of the flagships of the Health & Technology theme of the Convergence agenda of the TUD, EUR, and EMC – and analysis of the qualitative data using structural coding in Atlas Ti 9, core elements of transdisciplinary collaboration and core elements of learning in a transdisciplinary collaboration context were found. Based on these elements, a long list of appropriate behaviors for leaders to portray to stimulate learning or work towards transdisciplinarity was established. Appropriate leadership styles and structures were concluded to be rotational distributed leadership consisting of formal and informal leaders. The discussion shows ideas for tools to stimulate learning and help develop a learning mindset, discusses the quality of the research, and provides recommendations for future research.Key words: transdisciplinarity, transdisciplinary collaboration, learning, leadership, duality, distributed leadership, convergence

In this research, we use different supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques to detect anomalies in NetFlow data. We aim to create a system for home or small-business use where the user is in control. We use WEKA for the machine learning models and feature selection. The UGR’16 dataset is used to train and test the models. We create three different models for each method where the model is trained on one day and tested on another. We find that supervised models perform better than unsupervised ones. Random Forest has the highest F1-score (0.9165) of the supervised models. However, Random Forest is statistically similar to 6 out of 8 different classifiers according to the Friedman and Nemenyi tests. One challenge with supervised methods is that there is a need for a third party to make sure the models are updated for new attacks. However, it seems feasible to create a system for network monitoring for home usage. Finally, we argue that the approach to research in machine learning should, in some cases, take a different direction. Instead of chasing the highest accuracy, we should look at which factors allow a user to work with a system. A set of rules is much easier to interpret than complex models. Especially if these models are statistically similar we could look at factors other than a single metric. After these results, we look at presenting warning messages to end-users. We want to motivate users to take action after they read a message. For this, we first create a theoretical framework based on behaviour, motivation and uncertainties. We want to find out if we can use uncertainties to group users, which allows us to create a semi-personal approach. Based on this theoretical framework, we create different versions of a warning message that focus on different uncertainties. Through 22 interviews, we asked the participants to rank the different versions and asked them questions about their stance on network security and preferences for warning messages. We found that uncertainties can not be used to group users but that they do influence them. Including a solution and which steps to take offers users peace of mind, even if they are not able to complete the steps. The results indicate that a more personal approach is necessary where every person has the choice to customize the message to fit their preference.

The Thorium Molten Salt Reactor is one of the technologies being investigated to offer large scale carbon-free energy production. Yet as it is a form of nuclear energy it is controversial, and TMSR research is underfunded. In an effort to combat the controversy, a communication strategy for TMSR research is developed. This communication strategy is focussed on Dutch governmental organisations and political parties. The central question in this thesis is: How could TMSR be communicated by nuclear scientists, in order to improve the quality of discussion about TMSR at the relevant governmental organisations in the Netherlands? This was researched creating an overview of all relevant governmental organisations and interviewing several of them. Several factors that influence the attitude were hereby questioned, such as their values as an organisation, the frame by which they view nuclear energy in general, their approach to climate change, and their focus in energy policy. The relevant governmental organisations were identified as: ministry of economic affairs and climate, the social economic council, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, and the political parties PvdA, VVD, D66, GL, and CDA. The consensus focussed Dutch political system, coupled with preference for a democratic approach to climate change, leads to a communication strategy based on negotiation. This negotiation must be done in a constructive way that acknowledges the needs of all attending parties. Thorium is explicitly not to be presented as a substitution to wind, solar, and the climate agreement, but as an addition to it. The creation of a Platform Energy Innovation as a discussion form is recommended. This platform is to facilitate discussion with all the above-mentioned organisations and several other supporting ones. The use of integrative negotiation has the potential to create the desired positive attitude without creating enemies and thereby secure a more stable future for TMSR research in the context of the Dutch energy transition.

Many nutrition education programmes currently face issues with implementation at schools. Little is known about causes for these issues. Research has shown that implementation of innovations like nutrition education programmes is influenced by adoption which in turn is affected by a multitude of determinants. The first objective of this thesis was to investigate the adoption of nutrition education programmes at primary schools and the association with implementation dose. The second objective was to create a tool to support the adoption of Taste Lessons. School-based nutrition education programmes are regarded as educational innovations in this thesis. An innovation is defined in this thesis as a novel, inventive and useable solutions related to people’s needs. In this context adoption is defined as the process which starts from the moment the teacher hears about the programme until the decision is made whether to use it. The number lessons implemented by the teachers is referred to as the implementation dose in this thesis. To reach the first objective, the adoption of Taste Lessons, EU-Schoolfruit and school-based nutrition education programmes in general, was evaluated. Data analyses were performed to investigate the association of the score on adoption determinants with implementation dose of Taste Lessons. Multilevel analyses were performed to compare the changes in intended programme outcomes over time between implementation dose categories. To reach the second objective, a Delphi study was performed to gain insight into the key stakeholders’ needs in the adoption process of Taste Lessons. In addition to these insights, literature and expert consults were used to develop a tool. This tool aims to support the adoption of Taste Lessons. Twenty-eight determinants important for adoption have been established. Several determinants that could be barriers for the adoption of Taste Lessons and EU-Schoolfruit have been identified. Significant positive associations have been found between implementation dose and the number of support staff, awareness of the programme’s contents, descriptive and subjective norm, and correctness of the programme. A significant negative association has been found with the teacher experiencing support from professionals. The implementation dose was significant positively associated with change in children’s nutrition knowledge. No significant association of the implementation dose with change of children’s fruit and vegetable consumption was found. Based on the above mentioned results in combination with the results from second part of the thesis a tool to support the adoption of Taste Lessons was developed. The digital tool should show teachers how they can tailor the programme to their needs, inform them about the contents, effectiveness and substation of the programme, and stimulate them to take action for implementation. The take home message of this research is that adoption determinants are associated with implementation dose, which in turn, is associated with the programme’s effectiveness. Context specific strategies for support of the adoption phase in the dissemination of nutrition education programmes should be developed, of which the tool developed in this research is an example. The strategy should be based on literature and practice, to ensure the feasibility, desirability and viability.

Our world is becoming increasingly more digital, but its security has not catched up yet. Therefore, cyber security is becoming ever more important and needs to be improved. This improvement can be made by increasing collaboration and knowledge exchange. A Community of Practice (CoP) is a concept often deemed an appropriate tool to manage knowledge within organizations and between knowledge partners. A better understanding on how to create and implement CoPs for cyber security-related topics could further improve cyber security. This research aims to achieve two objectives. The first objective is to gain insights in the establishment of Communities of Practice on cyber security in order to contribute the current scientific literature. The second is to use these insights to provide a possible solution to create a Community of Practice on cyber security for the FERM case in the Rotterdam port area.

Decision-makers in low-lying coastal zones are confronted with uncertain developments around flood risk.These drivers are surrounded by large uncertainties, which requires delta management to be adaptive. This research offers insights about adaptive delta management for the Rhine-Meuse estuary from three perspectives: a physical, a socio-political and a integrated perspective. In the physical perspective, the effect of pump capacity on the water system of the Rhine-Meuse estuary is quantified; one of the adaptation options against sea level rise. To assess the adaptation potential of pumps, the case study Delta21 is used; a plan to construct an artificial lake with an area of 35 km2 next to the Maasvlakte 2 in combination with a pump capacity of 10 000 m3/s. The Rhine-Meuse estuary is divided into four sub-areas depending on the
dominant hydrodynamic process: storm surge dominant area, flood storage dominant area, discharge dominant area and transition area. For each sub-area, the effects of Delta21 are computed on 1) water flows, 2) hydraulic loads and 3) failure probabilities. Delta21 succeeds in lowering the hydraulic loads and corresponding failure probabilities. At the same time, reductions are disproportionately over the Rhine-Meuse estuary leading to low reductions in some sub-areas. In the socio-political perspective, the focus is on decision-making and learning processes in management in delta management. The Rhine-Meuse estuary is characterized by a network structure, which means that knowledge and decisions do not belong to one single actor, but those decisions come about during interactions between various groups of actors. Not only the decisions need to be adaptive to cope with uncertain circumstances, but the learning process itself must also become adaptive. To achieve this aim, a conceptual mode is developed. Two case studies are used; the Delta Program and Knowledge Program Sea Level Rise. A longitudinal analysis of the Delta Program resulted in different narratives over time and various learning types. Subsequently, the Knowledge Program Sea Level Rise is analyzed with semi-structured interviews, process-tracing and the conceptual model. Observations and challenges are translated into a roadmap of learning activities. Moreover, the DEALTa learning handbook is developed, to support actors in designing learning activities. The physical and socio-political perspective are united in the integrated perspective. On the level of technical studies, insights are shared about the relation between both aspects and how the integration can be improved in the future.

This thesis explores how strategic and communication design can have an influence on the adoption process of blockchain or distributed ledger technology. It does so through dividing the thesis into four parts: Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver. In short: Discover: What is found is that distributed ledger development is a technology push development. Companies only explore the technical possibilities and the viability and desirability of the technology are underexposed. This has caused for a chasm to appear between the enthusiasts and the rest of business and society. Define: Through a set of interviews it is discovered distributed ledger technology can grow the fastest if it is developed in a collaborative setting. For this to happen, more people need to join in the movement. It is determined that a new mindset needs to be created. A mindset that is daring, bold and experiment friendly. Failure should be seen as a learning moment. Develop: To make sure companies can engage in mindset development, a tool is created. This tool is based upon the realisation that an immersive and playful experience is the best way to reach an audience. Thus, a workshop is developed, based on a set of canvasses. Define: As this thesis follows a lean development cycle, a simple prototype is developed. This prototype is then iterated upon through testing, reflecting and redesigning. In the end, a design of four canvasses and a booklet is created that help companies to on-board new partners. What was found, is that strategic and communication design are two fields that compliment each other in just right way to influence the adoption of DLT. Through the iterative and user focused process of strategic design, tools were created that help people to understand the complexity of DLT through a simple and smooth experience. At the same time, communication design provided the exact approach needed in guiding a group of people through the multiple layers of complexity of DLT-ecosystems. By understanding the abstraction of their own context in contrast to the technological possibilities, new understanding and appreciation of networked-collaboration was created. This new-found appreciation should ultimately result in a foundation of common ground and understanding, upon which the adoption of DLT can be built and spread.

Flooding currently affects 100 million people on average per year globally, and the number is increasing. The performance of dikes under extreme conditions is crucial to societal flood protection. By deploying measurement instruments in and around the embankment, more accurate insights into the actual status of the dike can be achieved that can be used to prevent the failure of a dike.
Despite growing awareness of the potential of dike monitoring techniques and effort put into the development and testing of instruments, implementation of instrumental dike monitoring into regular practice remains scarce. The objective of this thesis is therefore to shed light on the factors that influence the implementation of innovation in dike monitoring practice by: (1) assessing and analysing the barriers and drivers for implementation of innovation in dike monitoring, by studying a case study of novel optic fibre pressure sensors and trying to influence this practice by (2) designing a communication oriented intervention for the development phase that enhances the implementation process.