DIEM 2026 Mission Statement

From WHAT to HOW…

= From PROBLEM to OPPORTUNITY

= From RISK to RESILIENCE

= From THOUGHT to ACTION

= From RECOMMENDATIONS to PROJECTS

The 1st Dutch-International Resilience Symposium on November 26, 2025, is an example of the kinds of events we want to organize more of. What makes these events, be they lectures, briefings, workshops, webinars, seminars, or full conferences, different, we explain in this briefing paper.

1. “Prac-Ademic”

Combining academic knowledge on paper (What?) with lessons learned from practical experience (How?)

An illustration of what the problems are when one uses an exclusive focus on the What? question through science and the scientific method, we explain here:

2. Trans-Disciplinary

All-inclusive, no compartmentalization of knowledge management nor fragmentation of stakeholder groups.

 

3. Trans-Sectoral

When asking the question: “Resilience of what?”, the answer is our system of essential services, = CI: Critical Infrastructure. Our daily lives depend on it.

We can no longer look at the different elements of CI[1] in isolation but we need to consider them together – thus necessitating a trans-sectoral approach. And why? Because CI-sectors have become so intertwined and interdependent that a disruption in one sector can seriously and adversely affect the functioning of other CI sectors through cascading effects.

 

 

4. Trans-National/International Focus

Resilience knows no geographic boundaries. All issues and threats related to resilience of essential services/CI, are not local or regional nor national, but require a global, trans-national, international lens. Seamlessly shifting between a global (centralized) and local (decentralized) focus and seamlessly connecting that with everything in-between [also referred to as “glocal”], is no longer a luxury but a necessity.

[1] CI sectors might also be classified as ‘natural’ or ‘man-made’. Natural sectors include Oxygen, Water, Food, Energy, Housing, Survival-of-the-fittest [Natural selection & Reproduction], Mobility, Communication, Security, and Cultural Identity [including Collective Wisdom or Residual (“Indigenous’) Knowledge]. Human-caused sectors cover things like Economy, Finance, Logistics, Digitalization, Healthcare, Research & Education, Entertainment & Sports, Governance, Security, Climate Change, Societal Disruption.

5. Interactive

The time when single experts stopped by and told audiences what to do and what not to do, belongs to the past. Instead of experts ‘sending’ and audiences ‘receiving’, we utilize a dialogue format based on mutual and all-inclusive co-ownership and co-creation. Co-ownership not only of the problems but also of a search for practical solutions that is highly interactive and based on co-creation. This is perhaps best summarized by this quote: “All of us know more than one of us!”

6. Trans-Generational

While the more senior, knowledgeable, and experienced participants in events and members of the Peer-Review Panels (PRP’s), might be in a better position to structure problems and to put them out for discourse, their solutions will have to be implemented in practice by  ‘young(er) ones’.

 

It’s therefore that we strive to have 15-20% of participants being students and young professionals. Not merely as onlookers but as part of the event organisation, as workshop assistants and/or as part of the PRP’s.

 

7. Reducing FRAGMENTATION + Reversing LACK-OF-IMPACT

• Before and during events, as per the above, we move collectively from WHAT to HOW by way of:

1. Introducing the Nine Universal Roadblocks (NUR) Meta[2]-Model as an all-inclusive, shared framework for conceptual thinking: WHAT are the roadblocks we encounter every time and seem unable to bypass or solve?

 

[2] We use the word ‘Meta’ here as in meta-philosophy and meta-analysis: an all-inclusive, overarching umbrella under which any and all entities can unite instead of competing with each other.

1. Operationalizing the NUR’s by harvesting actionable HOW-recommendations based on DIEM’s ‘4 Questions’.

 

• After each event, we:

Engage Peer Review Panels (akin to an Editorial Board) (t)asked to improve and convert selected HOW-recommendations to bankable project proposals.

 

GENERAL SUMMARY/SYNOPSIS

Here’s what the DIEM network does and is about:

Support comprehensive framework programs that are inclusive by design – and not by retrofit. For this, we use interactive methods that foster a sense of co-ownership not only of the problem(s), but of the search for solutions – a search based on prominent levels of interactivity and co-creation.

Support new and existing networks of individuals and organizations with the following characteristics:

• (a)cross thinking
• intrinsic motivation
• initiative-taking and not-afraid
• international orientation
• focus on real-world, practical experience
• embrace complexity – it isn’t the same as complicated…
• (still) in the possession of a sense of humour
• (cap)able to switch between thinking, connecting, doing.

Support and initiate events that provide clarity and purpose by:

• Using the Nine Universal Roadblocks (NUR) Meta-Model to highlight obstacles we seem unable to solve or bypass…
• Asking “How good is ‘good enough’?” (= NUR 9)
• Transitioning from WHAT-questions to HOW-answers
• Transitioning from Risk to Resilience
• Consistently use methods that ensure compatibility and thus allows for benchmarking
• Establishing PEER-REVIEW PANELS to work up actionable HOW-recommendations into concrete, bankable project proposals.