Operations and Human Factors

We work on developing tools, methods, guidelines and rich case descriptions, to support designers and other professionals in developing their capacity for designing inclusively.

My research is aimed at supporting pilot performance in demanding situations which may, for example, lead to startle or surprise, spatial disorientation, and loss-of-control in-flight.

In the research area of maritime automation, the focus is on the Human Factor challenges in developments such as autonomous sailing, smart shipping, bridge resource management and resilience.

I believe that technology should support our performance, safety, well-being and our strive for happiness. Therefore, I work on Human-Technology Symbiosis.

The organs of balance are at the basis of our vestibular system, playing a major role in motion and orientation perception, and the control of our body, head and eye movements. To optimize this perception and control, our central nervous system integrates the information from the organs of balance with that of the eyes and other senses, as well as with cognitive information.

My research area is human decision making in the context of safety. A main finding in this field is that human decision making skills are far from optimal. Most of our decisions are made intuitively, based on incomplete knowledge, and with limited reflection. Despite these insights however, decision makers themselves are generally quite confident about the accuracy of their decisions.

I am an expert in transdisciplinary work and systems thinking. Specifically, I am concerned with building bridges between the theoretical concept of systems thinking, and (unruly) practice. I do this from my specialization in "human thinking capacity under extreme circumstances". You can contact me for questions on the development of TNO's "system innovation methodology" and the experimental system tables we are currently running.

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Progress in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, conversational agents, connectivity and sensing technology increases the capabilities of physical and virtual agents to operate more and more autonomously, possibly as team members, companions or partners of humans. However, the information and decision-making processes of these agents differ from human’s processes fundamentally.

My research and teaching activities are about human perception and interaction in computer simulated worlds, focusing on tactile and brain-computer interfaces for navigating simulated worlds; effect, stress and body ownership in augmented reality; and meaningful control of autonomous intelligent systems.