prof.dr.ir. L. Volker (Leentje)

My name is Leentje Volker and I am a Professor of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) at the Department of Civil Engineering and Management (CEM) of the Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET) at the University of Twente (UT), The Netherlands. Next to this I am a member of the Dutch Council for the Living Environment & Infrastructure (Rli). In this role we advice the Dutch central government on issues related to how we governance our built environment. 

Intrigued by interaction between people and the public built environment, the aim of the IPD group is to create feasible and integrated civil engineering solutions that add value to society and stimulate innovation in the construction industry. For me, public infrastructure projects are collaborations between public and private partners that facilitate strategic infrastructure asset management decisions. 

As an construction management scholar, I mainly focus on the initialisation, design, realisation and maintenance of civil infrastructure assets in networks and (eco)systems. This includes procurement and contracting of (a portfolio of) physical infrastructures, the design of collaborative project organisations and the inter-organisational aspect of project practices. 

Integrating individual, organisational and institutional levels of socio-technical engineering solutions in a project based environment like construction contributes to a wide range of social, technical and economic values. Moving towards a more ecosystemic way of working in the built environments requires that these values are balanced between a complementary set of actors that both create and capture values. 

My co-creative and multidisciplinary empirical research approach often leads to interesting and innovative results that bridge the gap between theory and practice. This fits with my active social engagement in (advisory) committees and boards and strengthens my role of change agent in the construction industry.

Feel free to walk into the Horst Z219 or send me an email if you would like to join me on this co-creative process of developing knowledge, competences and innovations together.

For more info about me on the 'Featured Scientists' page, click below:

Expertise

• Social Sciences

  • Project
  • Infrastructure
  • Construction
  • Process
  • Organizations
  • Perspective
  • Construction Industry

• Computer Science

  • Innovations

Organisations

Ancillary activities

• RliRaadlid bij Raad voor de Leefomgeving en Infrastructuur

Most of my research focuses on the creation of values for the infrastructure ecosystem actors by explicating the tensions and dilemmas between public and private values, fragmentation and integration, formal and informal rules in different institutional systems. I find it particularly important to exploit the exploration phase and explore the exploitation phase in collaborative construction processes.

Most of my research is related to: collaboration between public and private partners in the construction industry, project and programme organising, infrastructure construction management, strategic asset management processes, developing innovation and governing business ecosystems, procurement and contracting and business model design.

I have a co-creative, design oriented and qualitative multidisciplinary research approach which leads to interesting and innovative results that bridge the gap between theory and practice. Most of my research data is collected through interviews, (participant) observation, workshops, serious gaming, or surveys, often in engaged scholarship with practitioners.

Publications

Research profiles

My teaching involves project organising and project management, procurement and contracting of social and economical infrastructure, safeguarding public values, stakeholder management, and developing innovation and business ecosystems in construction.

Affiliated study programs

Courses academic year 2025/2026

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.

Courses academic year 2024/2025

Currently involved in the following projects:

• Programmatic routine development in client organisations (PhD research Lynn Vosman)
• Roles of suppliers in infrastructure ecosystems (PhD research Gijsbert van der Waerdt)
• Impact of longterm collaboration in serial infrastructure programmes (PhD research Eveline Hinfelaar)
• Change leadership in civil asset management organisations (PhD Amina El Jaadi)
• Learning across and within infrastructure programs (PhD Ellen Kok)
• Flood resilient landscapes anf integrated approach towards water safety (PhD Max de Vries)
• NWO Fieldlabs@Scale: moving from innovation to business ecosystems (PhD research Lucca Vadecca & PhD Hannah Fults)
• NWO UBQ4: Strategy implementation in infrastructure asset management organisations (PhD research Susan Groenia)
• EU SpongeWorks: tools & methods to support the co-creation of sponge measures and strategies (PhD Kelsey Wentling)
• Cross-sectoral intergratige approaches for climate-resilient infrastructure systems (PhD Carlos Rivera Choscó)
• Realising local heating transitions (PhD Rob Raijmakers)
• NWO AMBITIONS - Accelerating mulitple transitions in the built environment 
• NGI Via Prudenti - Partnering for responsible unified delivery and efficient networks of infrastructure
• Van Systeeminzicht naar Sturingkracht in de infrasector

Address

University of Twente

Horst Complex (building no. 20), room Z219
De Horst 2
7522 LW Enschede
Netherlands

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Organisations