Herbert Simon Research Institute

Herbert Simon Research Institute

The Herbert Simon Research Institute is a Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences research Institute for health, well-being and adaptiveness.
There is an increasing need for studying complex societal problems in a more integral way, for which we need expertise which crosses the boundaries of a specific department. In order to stimulate and facilitate cooperation between the departments within our School, we have established the Herbert Simon Research Institute for ‘Health, well-being and adaptiveness’.

The function of the Herbert Simon Research Institute is twofold:

1. Facilitating research programs

The Institute facilitates the existing research programs of all nine departments within the Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. The facilities, as provided by the Vice Dean for Research ( at the same time acting director of HSRI), the research support team (RST), grant support and Graduate school, encompass amongst others: Stimulating research cooperation and grant applications;  registration and analysis of research output and -quality, producing annual reports and other relevant overviews;  introducing PhD students, supervising PhD education plans and managing the different courses of the graduate school; approval of supervision and PhD committees, graduation ceremonies, policy support etc.

More about the Visiting fellowship program

More about the Governance

2. Strengthening research profile

The Institute is focused on the building of a stronger research profile. Next to the research programs of the nine departments and related institutes such as CORPS, CIR, TIBER and PMC, we have selected 3 themes, which involve the cooperation between various departments, and which address actual themes in need of both fundamental and applied research (impact). We expect that by profiling these themes this will not only increase internal cooperation among the nine departments, but also the attractiveness of our school for teaming up with partners of the other TiU schools and external partners, both at the national as well as international level.

More about these cross-cutting themes

Vision

The Herbert Simon Research Institute for health, well-being and adaptiveness is a research center devoted to carrying out excellent state of the art research in order to contribute to healthy and resilient people who are able to manage their life, in light of social, physical and emotional challenges and to contribute to resilient societies and organizations that are able to adapt to todays and future developments. Its core values are based upon understanding and advancing society, a passion for truth, reliability, and integrity, while using advanced methods.

Mission

The Herbert Simon Research Institute for health, well-being and adaptiveness conducts excellent research to obtain knowledge that will increase the well-being of individuals, teams, organizations and society and their ability to adapt to a changing (living and working) environment.

  • Herbert Simon

    Herbert Simon (1916- 2001)

    American economist and political scientist

    Herbert Simon received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1978 and the Turing Award in 1975.

Herbert Simon

Herbert Simon was among the earliest scientist to analyze the architecture of complexity. He was convinced that this analysis is only possible by integrating the knowledge of different disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, economy, political science, management and organizational theory, all disciplines that are covered by our School and our Tilburg University.

Heritage Herbert Simon

He advocates an interdisciplinary research approach for the study of society and its institutions. In this way Herbert Simon is the right person to be associated with as we want to study complex societal problems in a more integral way and seek to connect the expert knowledge, experience and related research networks of all nine research programs/departments. So we are proud that we are allowed to use his name and heritage for our research institute.

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Tilburg Experience Sampling Center

Tilburg Experience Sampling Center (TESC) is a center of expertise with respect to Experience Sampling Methods research in the broader applied context of health, well-being and adaptiveness. TESC welcomes researchers who are interested or experienced in setting up experience sampling studies, and/or analyzing intensive longitudinal data. This type of data can be collected through the use of ‘wearables’ and other digital devices, which nowadays characterizes daily life. The experience sampling method opens up new possibilities to tailor future interventions to the person’s unique needs.

By sharing knowledge and working together, researchers are empowered to innovate towards better understanding, preventing, and treating problems with health, well-being and adaptiveness. TESC stimulates collaboration between researchers from various disciplines, offers a skill-building program, and has arranged collective agreements. TESC is part of the Herbert Simon Research Institute.

More about TESC

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