Rianne Appel-Meulenbroek

Rianne Appel is an Associate Professor in corporate real estate (CRE) and workplaces at the Department of the Built Environment of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), in the Netherlands. In her research, she approaches CRE as an important strategic resource for (knowledge) organizations. She focuses on 2 lines of research: 1) how the different workplaces in the current hybrid workspace should be managed strategically (corporate offices, co-working offices, and home environments) and 2) how location, building and workspace design choices for these different hybrid work environment types add value to driving forces of their users (such as employee health and productivity, innovativeness of the organization, and flexibility). In order to carry out her scientific research, she relies on innovative methods of studying and measuring buildings and their usage. These include choice experiments, laddering interviews, experience sampling surveys, and sensor-based measurements.

As Rianne believes that the only way to provide real evidence for the business case of workplace interventions is by getting involved in transdisciplinary research initiatives, she initiated and chairs the Transdisciplinary Workplace Research (TWR) network since 5 years. She also started and co-edits the academic book series Transdisciplinary Workplace Research & Management, published by Routledge Taylor and Francis. Throughout the years, she has collaborated (and still is) in many interdisciplinary and international research projects between scientists and with the involvement of practitioners and users.

The only way to provide real evidence for the business case of workplace interventions is by getting involved in transdisciplinary research initiatives.”