University of Amsterdam: Grant for research into tackling future pandemics

The Radboudumc is going to lead a study on how to deal with future pandemics, together with Radboud University and the University of Amsterdam. Rick Quax from the Informatics Institute/Institute for Advanced Studie is involved in this project.

“This project is unique in that it will combine multiple disciplines in a single simulation, and can therefore make considerations transparent, in close collaboration with the experts and administrators themselves.” Rick Quax, senior researcher Computational Science Lab

In this two-year project, funded by the NWO, the researchers are looking at the decision-making process surrounding COVID-19, and its consequences for healthcare and society. The aim is to develop a form of management that can respond more quickly to constantly changing circumstances. The research project Adaptive systems based pandemic management to improve resilience of healthcare and society is conducted under the leadership of Radboudumc professor Marcel Olde Rikkert. An important term here is resilience, which is about how quickly something or someone recovers after an event. To study this resilience in healthcare and society, the researchers will develop a so-called adaptive pandemic management.

The grant awarded is € 726,000 and falls under NWO’s call for Complexity Research on the COVID-19 crisis.
In addition to the parties mentioned, GGD Gelderland-Zuid and other decentralised and policy organisations will also participate in the study.

Marcel Olde Rikkert: ‘Health care and government agencies and important regional and central policy bodies will jointly develop a flexible (adaptive) approach for future pandemics. Methods from complexity science will be used as well. The outcome of our research will be a form of management that adapts optimally to the ever-changing circumstances during a national crisis situation, such as the COVID-19 pandemic’.