Risk Management and Engineering Department renews with four board members and launches newsletter

At a digital AGM last week, the Risk Management and Engineering Department elected four new board members

The department is very happy with its new chairman, Genserik Reniers. He is professor of hazardous materials safety at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management - Safety and Security Science Group, professor KULeuven, Campus Brussels - Faculty of Economics and Management - CEDON University of Antwerp (UA) - Faculty of Applied Economics - Dept. Engineering Management. He also holds a large number of ancillary positions. His reading list is impressively long. But the nice thing is that Genserik is also a very animated person, who moves leisurely in company and exchanges ideas easily, which is always worthwhile. In short, an expert in risk management and also an amiable person.

A second new board member is Sabine de Lange, who has been a member of KIVI for some time, but has just completed a second master's degree and will therefore have a little more time for board activities. She works as knowledge manager on innovation at Herik, a medium-sized company in maintenance of waterways and coastal works. Naturally, she has to deal with risk management. After all, innovation does not know statistics from past events. New developments are uncharted paths. Anticipatory risk research is then evident.

A third innovation on the departmental board is Natasha Dodonova, a clinical psychologist and past employee of Dutch companies where technology and new developments are at the forefront. She currently works at the Ministry of Defence and is in charge of innovation.

Finally, Arie Quik is a fourth renewal of the department board. He is a veteran and has been appointed secretary-treasurer.

The KIVI-RBT department will improve its communication with its members by setting up a newsletter, which will regularly report interesting facts about the department and risk management in general. This newsletter is primarily aimed at members of the department, but other KIVI members can also subscribe to it free of charge.

Soon, Risk Management and Engineering will start setting up a knowledge base. There is a lot of risk management knowledge in the department, but it is not available to all KIVI members. The knowledge bank should change this. Reviews of important publications will appear periodically. One of the first reviews will be of the new publication Enhancing Safety, the Challenge of Foresight by ESReDA, a European non-profit organisation, which was commissioned by the European Commission to study the possibilities of improving safety in many branches of technology through better prevention.

The department plans to set up discussion groups and initiate exchanges of views among young people. These will deal with the uncertainties and their risks of technology in society.

In a forthcoming second ALV, the divisional leadership will present its intentions to members in more detail. That ALV will be combined with a company visit and a symposium, which will explore the direction of the department and the role of risk management and security in the fast-changing world.

The department's two annual themes are the risks and uncertainties of the energy transition and the failure of risk policy during the corona pandemic. An autumn symposium has as its topic the ambivalent relationship between technology and society. That relationship has been ambiguous since ancient times. This will be fireworks with high-level, philosophical exchanges between experts.