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Well-being is a complex, and multifaceted construct that includes feeling good and functioning well. There is a growing global recognition of well-being as an important research topic and public policy goal. Well-being is related to less behavioral and emotional problems, and is associated with many positive aspects of daily life, including longevity, higher educational achievement, happier marriage, and more productivity at work. People differ in their levels of well-being, i.e., some people are in general happier or more satisfied with their lives than others. These individual differences in well-being can arise from many different factors, including biological (genetic) influences and environmental influences. To enhance the development of future mental health prevention and intervention strategies to increase well-being, more knowledge about these determinants and factors underlying well-being is needed. In this dissertation, I aimed to increase the understanding of the etiology in a series of studies using different methods, including systematic reviews, meta-analyses, twin designs, and molecular genetic designs. In part I, we brought together all published studies on the neural and physiological factors underlying well-being. This overview allowed us to critically investigate the claims made about the biology involved in well-being. The number of studies on the neural and physiological factors underlying well-being is increasing and the results point towards potential correlates of well-being. However, samples are often still small, and studies focus mostly on a single biomarker. Therefore, more well-powered, data-driven, and integrative studies across biological categories are needed to better understand the neural and physiological pathways that play a role in well-being. In part II, we investigated the overlap between well-being and a range of other phenotypes to learn more about the etiology of well-being. We report a large overlap with phenotypes including optimism, resilience, and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, when removing the genetic overlap between well-being and depressive symptoms, we showed that well-being has unique genetic associations with a range of phenotypes, independently from depressive symptoms. These results can be helpful in designing more effective interventions to increase well-being, taking into account the overlap and possible causality with other phenotypes. In part III, we used the extreme environmental change during the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate individual differences in the effects of such environmental changes on well-being. On average, we found a negative effect of the pandemic on different aspects of well-being, especially further into the pandemic. Whereas most previous studies only looked at this average negative effect of the pandemic on well-being, we focused on the individual differences as well. We reported large individual differences in the effects of the pandemic on well-being in both chapters. This indicates that one-size-fits-all preventions or interventions to maintain or increase well-being during the pandemic or lockdowns will not be successful for the whole population. Further research is needed for the identification of protective factors and resilience mechanisms to prevent further inequality during extreme environmental situations. In part IV, we looked at the real-time assessment of well-being, investigating the feasibility and results of previous studies. The real-time assessment of well-being, related variables, and the environment can lead to new insights about well-being, i.e., results that we cannot capture with traditional survey research. The real-time assessment of well-being is therefore a promising area for future research to unravel the dynamic nature of well-being fluctuations and the interaction with the environment in daily life. Integrating all results in this dissertation confirmed that well-being is a complex human trait that is influenced by many interrelated and interacting factors. Future directions to understand individual differences in well-being will be a data-driven approach to investigate the complex interplay of neural, physiological, genetic, and environmental factors in well-being.

Op 25 januari organiseerde Lectoraat De Pedagogische Opdracht een Symposium over actuele vragen in het onderwijs. Bijna 150 professionals vanuit het basisonderwijs, MBO en HBO bezochten het evenement op locatie Inholland Haarlem. Tijdens haar keynote besprak lector Mascha Enthoven actuele thema’s uit het publieke debat zoals kansenongelijkheid, persoonsvorming in het onderwijs en kwaliteit- en vrijheid van onderwijs. In de aansluitende sessies werden deze thema’s verder uitgediept en gingen deelnemers met elkaar in gesprek.

Jongeren ouder dan 16 zonder diploma, zoals Aidan, mogen starten op een entreeopleiding. De opleiding biedt jongeren afkomstig uit praktijk-, speciaal en voortgezet onderwijs en de internationale schakelklas een nieuwe kans. Wat hen bindt is dat ze in hun leven al heel wat tegenslagen hebben gekend én graag een mbo-diploma willen halen. Een wezenlijk onderdeel van de opleiding is dan ook dat de student leert omgaan met moeilijkheden, tegenslagen en uitdagingen, kortom: de opleiding dient bij te dragen aan de veerkracht van studenten. Onontbeerlijk hierbij is de steun van school, leraren en klasgenoten om de negatieve invloed op de schoolloopbaan van risicofactoren als drugs, gedragsproblemen of schulden te compenseren. Met behulp van het begrip ‘veerkracht’ beschrijven we wat nodig is om deze jongeren te laten slagen

Dit proefschrift gaat over de veerkracht van regionale arbeidsmarkten en de bijdrage die een triple helix partnership daaraan kan leveren. Het rapporteert over een onderzoek waarin de Health Hub Roden als triple helix partnership centraal staat. Vanuit de opvatting dat dit uiteindelijk bijdraagt aan een sterkere concurrentiepositie van de economie wordt in zowel internationaal, nationaal als regionaal beleid de noodzaak benadrukt om de samenwerking tussen onderwijs, overheid en bedrijfsleven te versterken. Ook in de wetenschappelijke literatuur wordt veel geschreven over triple helix samenwerking. Een belangrijk deel van de triple helix literatuur beargumenteert vanuit de theorie hoe deze partnerships zouden (moeten) werken, maar de vraag hoe dergelijke partnerships in de praktijk werken, bleef tot nu toe onderbelicht in empirisch onderzoek. De aanleiding voor dit onderzoek is gelegen in de unieke kans die zich voordeed om Health Hub Roden, een triple helix partnership in de provincie Drenthe, en de betrokken partners longitudinaal en diepgaand te onderzoeken en zo in de ‘black box’ van een triple helix partnership te kijken om te achterhalen in hoeverre, en via welke mechanismen, een dergelijk partnership bijdraagt aan de economische veerkracht van de regio (in termen van werkgelegenheid en arbeidsparticipatie). Om inzicht te verkrijgen in de manier waarop die bijdrage precies geleverd zou kunnen worden, is op basis van literatuuronderzoek en empirisch onderzoek een globaal ordeningsmodel van mogelijke causale mechanismen ontwikkeld waarmee op microniveau in kaart gebracht kan worden in hoeverre er een bijdrage vanuit het triple helix partnership was. Het begrip causale mechanismen en het traceren daarvan staat centraal in de onderzoeksmethode process-tracing, die binnen dit onderzoek is gebruikt. Na het ontwikkelen van het globale ordeningsmodel is in kaart gebracht in hoeverre er in dit onderzoek bij dit concrete partnership voor de achtereenvolgende schakels waaruit de causale mechanismen zijn opgebouwd ook daadwerkelijk empirisch bewijs gevonden is. Op basis van het empirisch onderzoek kan gesteld worden dat er indicaties gevonden zijn voor een relatie tussen activiteiten vanuit het triple helix partnership en de ontwikkeling van werkgelegenheid en arbeidsparticipatie. Werkervaringsplaatsen voor mensen met een afstand tot de arbeidsmarkt hadden een positief effect op de arbeidsparticipatie. Daarnaast resulteerde het netwerk in meer omzet in bestaande markten, met vervolgens een effect op de werkgelegenheid. Samenwerking in projecten droeg bij aan productinnovatie, met (mogelijk op termijn) een werkgelegenheidseffect in bedrijven tot gevolg. Ook werden in het empirisch materiaal aanwijzingen gevonden voor een relatie tussen samenwerking in projecten en de kwantitatieve personeelsvoorziening in bedrijven doordat bedrijven op deze manier hun (innovatie)capaciteit tijdelijk (en gratis) konden uitbreiden of makkelijker nieuw personeel konden werven. Ook werd via samenwerking in projecten gewerkt aan de competenties van personeel. In het ontwikkelde ordeningsmodel werden tot slot mogelijke effecten op procesinnovaties (en vervolgens werkgelegenheid) en ondernemerschap beschreven, maar in deze case werden geen of nauwelijks effect vastgesteld. Met dit onderzoek is inzicht gegeven in mogelijke handelingsopties in triple helix samenwerking en de wijze waarop daarmee een bijdrage geleverd wordt aan werkgelegenheid en arbeidsparticipatie. De belangrijkste adviezen voor het vormgeven van toekomstige samenwerkingen hebben betrekking op de noodzaak van het bepalen van een gezamenlijke lange termijnagenda voor de triple helix samenwerking, het vragen van daadwerkelijk commitment van de betrokken partners, het verbeteren van het inzicht in de collectieve scholingsbehoefte en het stimuleren van informeel leren. Een eerste aanbevelingen voor vervolgonderzoek betreft het toetsen van de beschreven causale mechanismen in vervolgonderzoek. Daarnaast zou een onderzoeksagenda opgesteld kunnen worden waarin relevante onderwerpen het bevorderen van de vraagarticulatie,het bevorderen van samenwerking tussen bedrijven, de rol van docenten en onderzoekers in deze samenwerking, de kwaliteit (en toegevoegde waarde) van dergelijke projecten in vergelijking met de meer traditionele vormen van samenwerking tussen onderwijs en bedrijfsleven en tot slot het stimuleren van open innovatieprojecten.

De studentenwelzijnsmonitor (SWM) is een Inholland-brede digitale vragenlijst voor studenten, ontwikkeld door het lectoraat Studiesucces van Hogeschool Inholland. In deze factsheet staan de eerste beschrijvende resultaten van de SWM 2022.

Een goede relatie met de docenten heeft een positief effect op studenten: ze voelen zich meer thuis bij de opleiding, meer verbonden, zitten beter in hun vel, tonen meer inzet en hebben meer plezier in het studeren. Ook kunnen docenten een hulpbron zijn bij het opbouwen van veerkracht door studenten te ondersteunen bij stress en tegenslag. Op deze manier fungeert een goede relatie met docenten als een buffer tegen (ernstige) welzijnsproblemen.

Anno 2022 worden de agenda’s van de markt en politiek bepaald door de transities rondom gezondheid, mobiliteit, klimaat en economie. Gemeenschappen die creatief en innovatief met die uitdagingen omgaan zijn niet alleen robuust genoeg om ze te absorberen maar kunnen problemen die op ze af komen ook tijdig herkennen en adresseren. Om de veerkracht in een gemeenschap te ontwikkelen, zijn plekken nodig waar opgaven, middelen, mensen en ideeën bij elkaar komen. Een plek waar bubbels worden doorbroken. Bijna iedere stad kent wel een aantal plekken, zoals broedplaatsen, waar kunstenaars, makers, ontwerpers bij elkaar komen om te creëren en waar bubbels worden doorbroken. Het zijn locaties waar ontmoeting tussen groepen inwoners en professionals tot stand komt; waar innovatie, kruisbestuiving en cultuur worden geproduceerd. Wat opvalt is dat deze parels van creativiteit en ontmoeting vaak zelf als bubbel functioneren ondanks de vele en diverse verbindingen die ze tot stand brengen. Veel broedplaatsen hebben de reputatie een gesloten bolwerk te zijn. Dit maakt hun bubbel kwetsbaar. Creatieve vrijplaatsen staan regelmatig onder druk door krachten van buiten de invloedssfeer van hun organisatie. In dit artikel onderzoeken we de veerkracht van de organisaties die de creatieve plekken beheren en welke strategieën er nodig zijn om in een verhitte vastgoedmarkt te overleven en condities te scheppen voor de makers, kunstenaars en de processen die er plaatsvinden.

Trends in Daily Heart Rate Variability Fluctuations Are Associated with Longitudinal Changes in Stress and Somatisation in Police Officers

Het boek is verkrijgbaar bij Amsterdam University Press (AUP) via een betaalmuur In tijden van crisis, racisme, ongelijkheid en populisme, komen mensen sneller tegenover elkaar te staan. Dit geldt nog meer voor kinderen en jongeren. Hoe kan je jongeren helpen een veerkrachtige identiteit te ontwikkelen in een context van polarisatie en vervreemding? Dit boek portretteert zes pedagogische praktijken waarin deze uitdaging samen met jongeren wordt opgepakt. Deze allianties openen een ruimte waar gespeeld kan worden met identiteiten. Betrokken begeleiders coachen niet alleen jongeren in hun eigen bewustwordingsproces, maar bouwen ook aan gemeenschappen en zijn belangenbehartigers. Zij behartigen de belangen van jongeren om in deze tijd waarin politiek steeds vaker het verleden als kompas neemt, individuele en collectieve toekomstdromen levend te houden.

Het boek is verkrijgbaar bij Amsterdam University Press (AUP) via een betaalmuur In tijden van crisis, racisme, ongelijkheid en populisme, komen mensen sneller tegenover elkaar te staan. Dit geldt nog meer voor kinderen en jongeren. Hoe kan je jongeren helpen een veerkrachtige identiteit te ontwikkelen in een context van polarisatie en vervreemding? Dit boek portretteert zes pedagogische praktijken waarin deze uitdaging samen met jongeren wordt opgepakt. Deze allianties openen een ruimte waar gespeeld kan worden met identiteiten. Betrokken begeleiders coachen niet alleen jongeren in hun eigen bewustwordingsproces, maar bouwen ook aan gemeenschappen en zijn belangenbehartigers. Zij behartigen de belangen van jongeren om in deze tijd waarin politiek steeds vaker het verleden als kompas neemt, individuele en collectieve toekomstdromen levend te houden.

On January 12th, 2022, Healthcare published our latest peer-reviewed research on Heart Rate Variability (HRV). The paper is titled “Trends in Daily Heart Rate Variability Fluctuations Are Associated with Longitudinal Changes in Stress and Somatisation in Police Officers” and is part of a special issue on Mental and Behavioral Healthcare. In this blogpost, I will attempt to summarize the article and how it complements our prior research in more lay language.

The emergence of wearable sensors that allow for unobtrusive monitoring of physiological and behavioural patterns introduces new opportunities to study the impact of stress in a real-world context. This study explores to what extent within-subject trends in daily Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and daily HRV fluctuations are associated with longitudinal changes in stress, depression, anxiety, and somatisation. Nine Dutch police officers collected daily nocturnal HRV data using an Oura ring during 15–55 weeks. Participants filled in the Four-Dimensional Symptoms Questionnaire every 5 weeks. A sample of 47 five-week observations was collected and analysed using multiple regression. After controlling for trends in total sleep time, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and alcohol use, an increasing trend in the seven-day rolling standard deviation of the HRV (HRVsd) was associated with increases in stress and somatisation over 5 weeks. Furthermore, an increasing HRV trend buffered against the association between HRVsd trend and somatisation change, undoing this association when it was combined with increasing HRV. Depression and anxiety could not be related to trends in HRV or HRVsd, which was related to observed floor effects. These results show that monitoring trends in daily HRV via wearables holds promise for automated stress monitoring and providing personalised feedback.

Governments, donors, international organizations, and (international) non-governmental organizations have turned to ‘building resilience’ as a response to political instability, armed conflict, terrorism, and large-scale refugee movements. The existing, multidisciplinary literature on resilience shows resilience to be, at its most basic level, a capacity to recover from adverse events. Security studies, which picked up on resilience from around the mid-2000s, found resilience to presuppose the inevitability of crises due to the complexity of today’s world; to responsibilize those affected by crises; and to indicate states’ inability to secure life, problematizing traditional, top-down modes of security governance. Yet, little is known about what resilience means in the context of (in)security, how it translates into practice, and what the implications are of this global ‘turn to resilience’. The objective of this dissertation is to understand the significance and implications of the turn to resilience in the global context of governing (in)security, by analysing the use of the notion of resilience in policy and practice. It builds on an analysis of European Union policy documents in the area of security, humanitarian, and development, combined with 13 semi-structured interviews with resilience experts (researchers, policymakers) and 40 semi-structured interviews with 47 humanitarian and development professionals working under the banner of the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. First, security, humanitarian, and development policies, policymakers and practitioners seem to understand resilience, above all, in terms of self-reliance. It is the capacity to respond to crisis and recover from adversity – without external support. At the level of government, this means the development of crisis management capacities, whereas at the level of refugees and vulnerable host communities, resilience means ensuring their economic self-reliance through formal employment. Second, security, humanitarian, and development policies, policymakers and practitioners point to the importance of localization for ‘building resilience’. At the national level, localization refers to national ownership and responsibility of the crisis response, whereas at the sub-national level, international actors use ‘localization’ to denote the ownership and responsibility of local civil society organisations. There are various structural barriers, however, that stymie localization, and policies lack awareness of “the local” as a diverse range of actors at different levels, with divergent and possibly conflicting interests. Third, security, humanitarian, and development policies, policymakers and practitioners emphasize the necessity to collaborate across policy siloes. The nature of contemporary crises necessitates a response where a wide variety of actors work together towards ‘collective outcomes’ on the basis of their complementarity. Breaking longstanding policy siloes is, however, no easy task. Fourth, security, humanitarian, and development policies frame refugees as an economic development opportunity for refugee-hosting countries. For the EU, this framing facilitates a strategy aimed at containing refugees in ‘the region’ and preventing onwards migration to EU Member States. A refugee containment strategy is, however, more likely to increase vulnerabilities and jeopardize what resilience capacities are present within communities and local institutions. For policymakers and practitioners, these findings point to the need to continuously and critically reflect on the interests and agendas that inform taken-for-granted interpretations of resilience, and whether ‘resilience-building’ programmes and related operational practices actually improve the ability of vulnerable individuals and social, economic, and political systems more broadly, to recover from crisis. The findings encourage resilience scholars to further the theoretical development of resilience as a governance rationality, investigate the normative implications of applying resilience in contexts of insecurity and (structural) violence; and more broadly, to study what is necessary for politics, policymaking, and governance to answer to, rather than avoid, emergent, complex life.

Governments, donors, international organizations, and (international) non-governmental organizations have turned to ‘building resilience’ as a response to political instability, armed conflict, terrorism, and large-scale refugee movements. The existing, multidisciplinary literature on resilience shows resilience to be, at its most basic level, a capacity to recover from adverse events. Security studies, which picked up on resilience from around the mid-2000s, found resilience to presuppose the inevitability of crises due to the complexity of today’s world; to responsibilize those affected by crises; and to indicate states’ inability to secure life, problematizing traditional, top-down modes of security governance. Yet, little is known about what resilience means in the context of (in)security, how it translates into practice, and what the implications are of this global ‘turn to resilience’. The objective of this dissertation is to understand the significance and implications of the turn to resilience in the global context of governing (in)security, by analysing the use of the notion of resilience in policy and practice. It builds on an analysis of European Union policy documents in the area of security, humanitarian, and development, combined with 13 semi-structured interviews with resilience experts (researchers, policymakers) and 40 semi-structured interviews with 47 humanitarian and development professionals working under the banner of the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. First, security, humanitarian, and development policies, policymakers and practitioners seem to understand resilience, above all, in terms of self-reliance. It is the capacity to respond to crisis and recover from adversity – without external support. At the level of government, this means the development of crisis management capacities, whereas at the level of refugees and vulnerable host communities, resilience means ensuring their economic self-reliance through formal employment. Second, security, humanitarian, and development policies, policymakers and practitioners point to the importance of localization for ‘building resilience’. At the national level, localization refers to national ownership and responsibility of the crisis response, whereas at the sub-national level, international actors use ‘localization’ to denote the ownership and responsibility of local civil society organisations. There are various structural barriers, however, that stymie localization, and policies lack awareness of “the local” as a diverse range of actors at different levels, with divergent and possibly conflicting interests. Third, security, humanitarian, and development policies, policymakers and practitioners emphasize the necessity to collaborate across policy siloes. The nature of contemporary crises necessitates a response where a wide variety of actors work together towards ‘collective outcomes’ on the basis of their complementarity. Breaking longstanding policy siloes is, however, no easy task. Fourth, security, humanitarian, and development policies frame refugees as an economic development opportunity for refugee-hosting countries. For the EU, this framing facilitates a strategy aimed at containing refugees in ‘the region’ and preventing onwards migration to EU Member States. A refugee containment strategy is, however, more likely to increase vulnerabilities and jeopardize what resilience capacities are present within communities and local institutions. For policymakers and practitioners, these findings point to the need to continuously and critically reflect on the interests and agendas that inform taken-for-granted interpretations of resilience, and whether ‘resilience-building’ programmes and related operational practices actually improve the ability of vulnerable individuals and social, economic, and political systems more broadly, to recover from crisis. The findings encourage resilience scholars to further the theoretical development of resilience as a governance rationality, investigate the normative implications of applying resilience in contexts of insecurity and (structural) violence; and more broadly, to study what is necessary for politics, policymaking, and governance to answer to, rather than avoid, emergent, complex life.

Governments, donors, international organizations, and (international) non-governmental organizations have turned to ‘building resilience’ as a response to political instability, armed conflict, terrorism, and large-scale refugee movements. The existing, multidisciplinary literature on resilience shows resilience to be, at its most basic level, a capacity to recover from adverse events. Security studies, which picked up on resilience from around the mid-2000s, found resilience to presuppose the inevitability of crises due to the complexity of today’s world; to responsibilize those affected by crises; and to indicate states’ inability to secure life, problematizing traditional, top-down modes of security governance. Yet, little is known about what resilience means in the context of (in)security, how it translates into practice, and what the implications are of this global ‘turn to resilience’. The objective of this dissertation is to understand the significance and implications of the turn to resilience in the global context of governing (in)security, by analysing the use of the notion of resilience in policy and practice. It builds on an analysis of European Union policy documents in the area of security, humanitarian, and development, combined with 13 semi-structured interviews with resilience experts (researchers, policymakers) and 40 semi-structured interviews with 47 humanitarian and development professionals working under the banner of the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey. First, security, humanitarian, and development policies, policymakers and practitioners seem to understand resilience, above all, in terms of self-reliance. It is the capacity to respond to crisis and recover from adversity – without external support. At the level of government, this means the development of crisis management capacities, whereas at the level of refugees and vulnerable host communities, resilience means ensuring their economic self-reliance through formal employment. Second, security, humanitarian, and development policies, policymakers and practitioners point to the importance of localization for ‘building resilience’. At the national level, localization refers to national ownership and responsibility of the crisis response, whereas at the sub-national level, international actors use ‘localization’ to denote the ownership and responsibility of local civil society organisations. There are various structural barriers, however, that stymie localization, and policies lack awareness of “the local” as a diverse range of actors at different levels, with divergent and possibly conflicting interests. Third, security, humanitarian, and development policies, policymakers and practitioners emphasize the necessity to collaborate across policy siloes. The nature of contemporary crises necessitates a response where a wide variety of actors work together towards ‘collective outcomes’ on the basis of their complementarity. Breaking longstanding policy siloes is, however, no easy task. Fourth, security, humanitarian, and development policies frame refugees as an economic development opportunity for refugee-hosting countries. For the EU, this framing facilitates a strategy aimed at containing refugees in ‘the region’ and preventing onwards migration to EU Member States. A refugee containment strategy is, however, more likely to increase vulnerabilities and jeopardize what resilience capacities are present within communities and local institutions. For policymakers and practitioners, these findings point to the need to continuously and critically reflect on the interests and agendas that inform taken-for-granted interpretations of resilience, and whether ‘resilience-building’ programmes and related operational practices actually improve the ability of vulnerable individuals and social, economic, and political systems more broadly, to recover from crisis. The findings encourage resilience scholars to further the theoretical development of resilience as a governance rationality, investigate the normative implications of applying resilience in contexts of insecurity and (structural) violence; and more broadly, to study what is necessary for politics, policymaking, and governance to answer to, rather than avoid, emergent, complex life.

Veerkracht is het vermogen om met uitdagingen in het leven om te gaan door een beroep te doen op mentale, sociale, fysieke, culturele en maatschappelijke hulpbronnen. Met behulp van deze veerkrachtplaat kunnen jongeren zicht krijgen op hun persoonlijke veerkracht. Op welke hulpbronnen doe jij een beroep als je voor een bepaalde uitdaging staat? De praatplaat is een opbrengst van het onderzoeksprogramma Ondersteuning van Jeugd in Overgang naar Volwassenheid (OJOV), gerealiseerd met RAAK-Pro-financiering van Stichting Innovatie Alliantie (SIA)

Floods have a devastating impact on society, costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars annually. Scientific projections indicate that flood risk is expected to increase in the future, driven by socio-economic growth and climate change. However, managing flood risk is a complex and costly process that requires decision-making with uncertain future conditions under the fear of making irreversible, inefficient choices. To support decision-makers, flood risk assessments provide estimates of the monetary impacts of floods or the economic efficiency of adaptation investments, although they often lack spatial or temporal dynamics. In addition, homeowners also make decisions at an individual level, such as implementing building-level adaptation measures or purchasing flood insurance. Homeowners’ decisions often deviate from rationality, as it is difficult for individuals to estimate the probability and associated damage of a potential flood. This PhD dissertation explores the extent to which we can incorporate the decision-making dynamics of governments, households, and flood insurance into a flood risk assessment at different spatial scales, and how this may improve flood risk management, applied to cases in the US.

Floods have a devastating impact on society, costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars annually. Scientific projections indicate that flood risk is expected to increase in the future, driven by socio-economic growth and climate change. However, managing flood risk is a complex and costly process that requires decision-making with uncertain future conditions under the fear of making irreversible, inefficient choices. To support decision-makers, flood risk assessments provide estimates of the monetary impacts of floods or the economic efficiency of adaptation investments, although they often lack spatial or temporal dynamics. In addition, homeowners also make decisions at an individual level, such as implementing building-level adaptation measures or purchasing flood insurance. Homeowners’ decisions often deviate from rationality, as it is difficult for individuals to estimate the probability and associated damage of a potential flood. This PhD dissertation explores the extent to which we can incorporate the decision-making dynamics of governments, households, and flood insurance into a flood risk assessment at different spatial scales, and how this may improve flood risk management, applied to cases in the US.

This week, JMIR (Journal of Medical Internet Research) Cardio published our paper ‘Moderation of the Stressor-Strain Process in Interns by Heart Rate Variability Measured With a Wearable and Smartphone App: Within-Subject Design Using Continuous Monitoring‘. In this blogpost, I’ll attempt to break down the paper’s key findings in relatively lay language.

Background The emergence of smartphones and wearable sensor technologies enables easy and unobtrusive monitoring of physiological and psychological data related to an individual’s resilience. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a promising biomarker for resilience based on between-subject population studies, but observational studies that apply a within-subject design and use wearable sensors in order to observe HRV in a naturalistic real-life context are needed. Objective This study aims to explore whether resting HRV and total sleep time (TST) are indicative and predictive of the within-day accumulation of the negative consequences of stress and mental exhaustion. The tested hypotheses are that demands are positively associated with stress and resting HRV buffers against this association, stress is positively associated with mental exhaustion and resting HRV buffers against this association, stress negatively impacts subsequent-night TST, and previous-evening mental exhaustion negatively impacts resting HRV, while previous-night TST buffers against this association. Methods In total, 26 interns used consumer-available wearables (Fitbit Charge 2 and Polar H7), a consumer-available smartphone app (Elite HRV), and an ecological momentary assessment smartphone app to collect resilience-related data on resting HRV, TST, and perceived demands, stress, and mental exhaustion on a daily basis for 15 weeks. Results Multiple linear regression analysis of within-subject standardized data collected on 2379 unique person-days showed that having a high resting HRV buffered against the positive association between demands and stress (hypothesis 1) and between stress and mental exhaustion (hypothesis 2). Stress did not affect TST (hypothesis 3). Finally, mental exhaustion negatively predicted resting HRV in the subsequent morning but TST did not buffer against this (hypothesis 4). Conclusions To our knowledge, this study provides first evidence that having a low within-subject resting HRV may be both indicative and predictive of the short-term accumulation of the negative effects of stress and mental exhaustion, potentially forming a negative feedback loop. If these findings can be replicated and expanded upon in future studies, they may contribute to the development of automated resilience interventions that monitor daily resting HRV and aim to provide users with an early warning signal when a negative feedback loop forms, to prevent the negative impact of stress on long-term health outcomes.