After his PhD research at Utrecht University, Erik-Jan Houwing worked for 18 years in the public sector. At first, he continued his PhD work in the freshwater environment (morfodynamics of rivers, lakes and estuaries, sediment transport and interaction with submerged vegetation) but became gradually involved in project management. He was a Technical Manager in several Room for the River projects and was responsible for finding solutions for high water river discharges (from Design, via Tendering to Construction). He was a mediator (Bouwreflectie) for several projects in the infrastructure and guided waterboards and the Department of Infrastructure and Waterways in the application of grants for dike restoration projects to meet the dike safety requirements in 2030. The linking thread in his career was strategic planning, project-based work, project management, collaborating within and between multidisciplinary teams, risk management and close collaboration and cooperation with stakeholders. 

Since 2016 he has worked at the TU Delft as a lecturer in the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, bringing the practical experience into the theoretical framework and teaches students about the art of designing (integral design, design thinking, research through design,) infrastructures. Parts of his lectures are framed around project work where students also learn how to cooperate and collaborate in multidisciplinary and multi-cultural teams. He supervises PhD and master’s students research.

research interest

• Integral Design of infrastructures: perspectives and processes in the Project’s life cycle
• Transition Design: a way to think, act, and organize differently in order to serve new purposes and find solutions for wicked problems
• Group dynamics and collaboration in project teams and between client and contractor