Convergence
Today's complex societal challenges—such as climate change, urbanisation, the increasing role of technology, and the sustainability of our healthcare systems—require groundbreaking scientific insights and solution-oriented, holistic approaches. To face these challenges, TU Delft, Erasmus MC, and EUR decided to join forces across disciplines and institutions by forming Convergence alliance. By combining expertise across social, economic, medical, engineering, and technical sciences, the partners of Convergence seek to realise new research and education structures, and possibly even new disciplines. This integrated approach has proven instrumental in areas such as developing resilient strategies for urban planning amidst climate uncertainties, harnessing human-centred technologies to navigate the digital transition responsibly and advancing healthcare systems to promote both efficiency and inclusivity.
Building an ecosystem for innovation and collaboration over time
To achieve these ambitions, Convergence established three main pillars: Resilient Delta (RD), Health & Technology (H&T), and AI, Data & Digitalisation (AIDD). In 2021, each of these pillars invested in the implementation of their carefully developed strategic plans, finding new collaborative partners, and further connecting researchers. In that same year, two bottom-up programmes were launched to address specific pressing societal issues that had not been addressed through the original pillars: the Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Centre (PDPC) and Healthy Start (HS).
The proximity of the three institutions of the alliance (within a 15 km radius) and to its societal partners has helped its efforts. To further connect with the region and society at large, Convergence invested in bringing together scientists, medical experts, policy makers, professionals, entrepreneurs, and students through various events. An example of such an event was the Science, Education & Innovation Festival, organised by H&T at the end of 2022, in which over 500 people participated. In 2023, after Convergence focused their earlier efforts on exploring and demonstrating the power and importance of transdisciplinary collaboration, they moved to the next phase of their collaboration. The focus moved to further deepening partnerships and integrating the different pillars and collaborations. Significant steps in education around AI were made, and new centres and Living Labs were organised to unite research efforts and innovative partnerships in AI technology.
Living Labs appeared in Europe in the early 2000s. Today, living labs are understood as physical or virtual spaces dedicated to solving societal challenges, especially for urban areas, by bringing together the main actors of the Quadruple Helix Model – citizens, government, industry, academia – for collaboration and collective ideation. See more at the European Network of Living Labs.
Notably, the H&T Flagships have been instrumental in setting up new labs, such as the Biomechanical Imaging Lab and the world’s first Healthcare AI ethics lab. Moreover, in 2023, AIDD launched three new research centres—Energy Systems Intelligence Center, AI Port Center, and Convergence Center for FinTech—using AI and interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle societal challenges. This collaborative framework not only enhances the relevance of research outcomes but also accelerates their translation into tangible societal benefits.
Building the Convergence community
Through strategic partnerships, Convergence has cultivated a robust ecosystem for innovation and learning in several ways. In 2023, for instance, RD established the SPRING consortium with local partners to address health and well-being disparities in Rotterdam, joined Smart Delta Drechtsteden and the Waterwegregio to enhance living and working environments, and launched a mobile forest project to involve citizens in urban greening and climate resilience efforts.
Furthermore, by investing in their growing community of people working within and across Convergence, Convergence committed to shaping a future where transdisciplinary solutions lead to sustainable and inclusive societal progress. For instance, the six Ambition Projects of HS are being led by young talented Ambition Leads and Co-Leads—guided by Convergence Fellows, PhD’s and nurses. To strengthen and grow the HS-community, HS organised the first HS Ambition Day in 2023 to empower and grow the HS community, which addresses various exposures from geographical, social, lifestyle and stress-related factors that determine early life development. To further boost the Ambition projects, HS launched the Healthy Start-ers Fund at the event.
Frontrunner Projects: new transdisciplinary collaborations
The Covid-19 crisis painfully demonstrated how vulnerable our society has become to pandemics and disasters. To better prepare for such events, members of Convergence started a bottom-up project in 2021: the Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Center (PDPC). This initiative works toward effective disaster prevention, preparedness, and recovery measures. For this purpose, PDPC has developed five Frontrunner Projects. Each of these research projects has its own focus, from Frontrunner 1: ‘Climate change and vectorborne virus outbreaks' to Frontrunner 5: ‘Integrated early-warning surveillance methods and tools”.
To illustrate how these projects have contributed to PDPC’s overarching goals, we will highlight some of the accomplishments and lessons learned through Frontrunner 4: ‘Towards social resilience”. Resilience, defined as the ability to resist, adapt to, or recover from crises, is crucial as disasters and health crises disproportionately impact those with lower socio-economic status, exacerbating inequality. This Frontrunner project aims to develop new knowledge to improve the resilience of citizens and communities in times of crisis.
This knowledge is produced in many ways and through various research projects. One project is done by Dr Kevin Pijpers, who is a researcher for ESSB and the PDPC project. Aligning with the initial ambitions of the Frontrunner 4 project, Pijpers was asked to set up a ‘Living Lab’ in Rotterdam South. As noted by Pijpers in his article featured in ‘Sociale Vraagstukken’ (EN: Social Issues), this area of Rotterdam is often stigmatised in reports and reporting, framing the issues faced by people in the area as only the problem of Rotterdam South (and not in light of wider structural issues). Pijpers set up an ‘alternative living lab’. Here, he has turned the idea of participation around: it is not the citizens who should ‘participate’, but the researchers and policymakers. In this way, Kevin has combined his participatory research with volunteer work at several places in Rotterdam South. For Pijpers, volunteer work is not only a way to give something back to the inhabitants of Rotterdam South, but also to conduct more in-depth ethnographic research that is situated and engaged. As explained by Pijpers:
The combination of volunteering and participatory research is doubly equitable: I give something back and I do good research with better research results than if I were to circulate a detached survey with a few questions, which does not build social justice.
Interdisciplinary learning
Pijpers and Ir. Guusje Enneking also brought together PhD candidates and principal investigators with varying expertise. The aim of this meeting was to develop new knowledge by exchanging initial findings and methodological insights from their respective research endeavours. Each sharing their own insights, researchers Prof. Sakde de Vlas (Erasmus MC), Pijpers (ESSB), Enneking (ESSB), Lotte Schrijver MSc (ESSB), and PingPing Song MD (Erasmus MC) engaged in a fruitful discussion regarding the interconnectedness of their research projects. While a definitive common ground has yet to be established, emerging themes included stakeholder involvement, societal resilience, and fostering conducive environments for a debate.
Another way in which PDPC stimulates learning and translates knowledge into policy and practice is through the ‘Learning from a crisis’ project. Addressing the question of whether and how integrated scientific advice can be developed in crisis situations in the Netherlands, the PDPC Academy developed simulation exercises that bring experts from various disciplines together in a structured environment and work on a real-life case or a potential scenario.
The participants consisted of an interdisciplinary team of scientists, spanning biomedical (veterinary and human), social, and economic sciences. The research team is led by Dr Anja Schreijer (Medical director of PDPC), and currently includes Dr Charlotte Waltz (ESSB), Dr Tomris Cesuroglu (PDPC Academy), Bart Blokland MSc (EUR/ PDPC Academy), Dr Femke Overbosch (PDPC Academy) and Jeannette de Boer MD (PDPC Academy).
A knowledge agenda on resilience in healthcare
To further enable such societal transitions, existing systems need to be checked and refocused. To facilitate this, ESHPM and the PDPC have published a knowledge agenda on resilience in healthcare. In disasters and pandemics, healthcare institutions are expected to be resilient, but what is meant by resilience? And what else do we need to know to make healthcare systems more resilient? According to researcher Dr Robert Borst, resilient care systems must be designed in such a way that they serve practice and people. This sometimes still receives little attention in research and policy.
Toward an interdisciplinary and innovative future
While Convergence has already made remarkable strides in fostering transdisciplinary collaboration and achieving societal impact, there is much more to do. As it continues to navigate the complexities of merging diverse disciplinary priorities and challenges, Convergence aims to not only propel scientific innovation but also to cultivate a tangible and meaningful impact on regional and global scales. As an important step forward, Convergence aims to establish a School of Convergence. The School of Convergence aspires to expand, strengthen and anchor this knowledge ecosystem. In addition to strengthening what is already happening at the Convergence level and providing for more structural embedding, the School of Convergence ensures knowledge building, and application of the knowledge gained, for relevant societal parties and our own institutions. In this way, transdisciplinary/transformative knowledge and innovation become embedded throughout the ecosystem.
