Experimental Environments
BAS KOLEN | Delft University of Technology
Fieldlab events
The complete closure of the events industry due to the outbreak of COVID (February 2020) is hitting hard: it is the reason for discussions between the events industry and various ministries and a joint ambition is being formulated to organize events, within the framework of health and safety, that can provide insight to achieve relaxation. Pieter Lubberts becomes co-initiator and program manager of Fieldlab Events: an umbrella initiative of the entire event sector (both business and sports & public events), and together with the government conduct research and take steps towards reopening the sector.
Studies are being carried out to find out whether, and under what circumstances, events can or cannot take place, and to realize a model that is economically feasible for the sector. Through these studies, Pieter Lubberts and Bas Kolen meet: Bas is affiliated with TU Delft and is a researcher specialized in research into risks related to climate and flooding, and has applied these models to COVID as well, amongst other things resulting in risk assessment models.
The research results of practical tests lead to the development of a matrix of measures. Concrete measures are proposed for each risk level, intended as a guideline for the cabinet. The possibilities of organizing events if the restrictions are released (February-May 2021), are also being investigated. However, the many stakeholders involved often have their own (political) agenda for the interpretation of the results.
Fieldlab Events was set up as a collaboration with scientists and knowledge institutions, the Top Sectors Creative Industry, Life, Sciences & Health and CLICKNL. The program is supported by the Ministries of Health, Welfare and Sport, of Education, Culture and Science, of Economic Affairs and Climate and of Justice and Security.
Bas Kolen studied at the University of Twente (1999, Civil Technology and Management) and obtained his PhD at Radboud University (2013) on research into the effectiveness of multi-layer safety and evacuation as part of the (flood) risk approach. Since 2015, Bas Kolen has been director of Research and Development and senior partner at HKV Lijn in water, and also part-time affiliated with Delft University of Technology, where he started research into natural disasters within the Safety and Security Institute at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Society. After the outbreak of COVID-19, Bas became involved in research around the pandemic and, among other things, drew up the risk assessment model in collaboration with Fieldlab test events. From 2022 he is senior technical officer for the TU-Delft role within the Pandemic & Disaster Preparedness Center.
