PhD Student

Eline Punt M.Sc.

Dept. 2: History and Social Sciences

Institute of Sociology, Department Urban Sociology and Sociology of Space

Contact

work +49 6151 16-28563

Work S3|13 333
Dolivostraße 15
64293 Darmstadt

Research Interests

  • Critical infrastructure
  • Urban resilience
  • Seaports
  • Urban governance

PhD Project

Seaports as nested infrastructure systems: Governing risks at the Port of Rotterdam (working title)


Poster (opens in new tab)


Among the key sites of societal vulnerability are seaports, which are nodes that have become highly critical for modern society. They represent the major nodes of material exchanges at global, regional, and national scale, while also embedded in local and regional areas. At the same time, those critical infrastructures have emerged as a place of insecurity given their vulnerability to systemic, complex human-induced and technical risks and their dependency on the smooth operation of multiple interconnected infrastructure systems that sustain their functioning. This PhD project analyses the way governance of systematic risks is coordinated between institutions in complex institutional arrangements in the Port of Rotterdam, one of the largest ports worldwide, supplying a European hinterland with 40 million users. Specifically, the aim of this research is to understand how seaports are and should be more effectively governed to prepare for, prevent, mitigate and manage infrastructure failures due to complex risks. As a result, this PhD project contributes to academic discourse on complex governance arrangements and on the resilience of interdependent infrastructure systems.

09/2017 – 07/2019 Research master in Human Geography and Planning: Urban and Economic Geography, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
09/2014 – 08/2017 Bachelor Human Geography and Planning, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
10/2019 – today Research Associate at Research Training Group KRITIS, TU Darmstadt
09/2017 – 06/2019 Student Assistant at Utrecht University, Faculty of Geosciences, Prof. S.C.M Geertman
09/2018 – 01/2019 Research Assistant at University of New South Wales, Faculty of Build Environment, Prof. C. Pettit

Punt, E.P., Monstadt, J., Frank, S., & Witte, P. (2022), Systemic risk governance in seaports: comparing flood risk, cyber risk and pandemics at the Port of Rotterdam. International Symposium for Next Generation Infrastructures (ISNGI). September 7-9, 2022.

Punt, E.P., Monstadt, J., Frank, S., & Witte, P.A. (2021), Beyond the dikes: an institutional perspective on governing flood resilience at the Port of Rotterdam. IAME 2021 Conference 'Accelerating Transitions', Rotterdam (the Netherlands), November 25-27, 2021.

Punt, E.P., Monstadt, J., Frank, S., & Witte, P.A. (2021), Digital Transformation: Rethinking the Governance of Cyber Risks at the Port of Rotterdam. KRITIS-Conference 'Transformations of Infrastructure Systems', Darmstadt (Germany), November 4-5, 2021 (online).

Punt, E.P., Monstadt, J., Frank, S., & Witte, P.A. (2021), Rethinking the Governance of Cyber Risks at the Port of Rotterdam. International Symposium for Next Generation Infrastructures. September 17, 2021 (online).

Punt, E.P., Monstadt, J., Frank, S., & Witte, P.A. (2021), Enhancing Flood Resilience of Critical Infrastructure Systems: Lessons from the Port of Rotterdam. SIGA2 2021 Conference Maritime & Ports, Antwerp (Belgium), May 5-7, 2021 (online).

Punt, E.P., Afrooz, A.E., Pettit, C.J. (2020), Precinct Scale Living Laboratories: Case Study of Randwick Living Lab. 5th International Conference on Smart Data and Smart Cities, Nice (France), September 30 – October 2, 2020 (online).

Punt, E.P., Geertman, S.C.M., Afrooz, A.E., Witte, P.A., Pettit, C.J. (2019), Assessing Planning Support Systems in Decision-Making: City Analytics Lab. International Society of Participatory Planning Conference, Espoo (Finland), June 17-19, 2019.

Punt, E.P., Geertman, S.C.M., Witte, P.A. (2018), Evaluating Smart Governance practices in the Netherlands. III International Conference on Urban e-planning, Lisbon (Portugal), April 3-4, 2018.

Punt, E., Monstadt, J., Frank, S., & Witte, P. (2023). Navigating cyber resilience in seaports: challenges of preparing for cyberattacks at the Port of Rotterdam. Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance. https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-12-2022-0150

Punt, E.P., Monstadt, J., Frank, S., & Witte, P. (2022). Beyond the dikes: an institutional perspective on governing flood resilience at the port of Rotterdam. Maritime Economics and Logistics,https://doi.org/10.1057/s41278-022-00234-w

Punt, Eline (2021): Critical Infrastructure systems and institutional arrangements. In: Research Training Group KRITIS (Ed.): Concepts of infrastructure. Whitepaper of an internal workshop. https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/18514/1/20210420_Whitepaper_Concepts%20of%20infrastructure%20RL_AP.pdf.21-23

Longoni, Raphael; Protschky, Andrea; Beck, Tilman; Beuttenmüller Lopes Silva, Felipe; Dighe, Chaitali; Kuhn, Luisa; Platzer, Eva; Punt, Eline; Soelberg, Søren; Steinbach, Cedric (2021): Conclusion, In: Research Training Group KRITIS (Ed.): Concepts of Infrastructure. Whitepaper of an internal workshop. https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/18514/1/20210420_Whitepaper_Concepts%20of%20infrastructure%20RL_AP.pdf. (opens in new tab) 27-29.

Punt, E.P., Afrooz, A.E., Pettit, C.J. (2020). Precinct Scale Living Laboratories: Case Study of Randwick Living Lab. ISPRS Annals of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing & Spatial Information Sciences, 30.

Punt, E.P, Geertman, S.C.M., Afrooz, A.E., Witte, P.A., Pettit, C.J. (2020). Life is a scene and we are the actors: Assessing the usefulness of planning support theatres for smart city planning. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 82, 101485.

Witte, P., Punt, E. & Geertman, S. (2020). Chapter 29 Smart governance in the Making: Integrating ‘Smart’ in Local Spatial Planning, PSScience Handbook.