BEHOLDER Project
Dutch Institute for Safe & Secure Spaces
The Dutch Institute for Safe & Secure Spaces (DISSS) is dedicated to building safer and more resilient societies across Europe through training, living labs and knowledge sharing.
Dutch Institute for Safe & Secure Spaces
DISSS brings its expertise in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and geographical mobility to the BEHOLDER project, helping to optimize CBRN-E resilience in public spaces while enhancing liveability and respecting civil liberties.
Our Role
As the lead coordinator, DISSS guides BEHOLDER through its development and implementation, ensuring the project benefits from multidisciplinary expertise and a collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach.
Collaboration & Approach
Teamwork is at the heart of DISSS’s methodology. By engaging local governments, researchers, industry partners, SMEs and citizens, the project aims to deliver results that will be both impactful and tangible.
Expected Outcome as Project Coordinator
BEHOLDER will create public safety systems that strengthen security without compromising the comfort, openness and freedom of urban spaces.
Our Track Record
DISSS is also active in other projects, including ProSPeReS, SHIELDed, PRoTECT, Secu4All and QROC, contributing to safer and smarter public spaces across Europe. DISSS and our experts have also been actively involved in H2020 projects ANITA, TRILLION, STARLIGHT, AHEAD and ENACT.
Staff involved
Anna van der Stok
She is an experienced and innovative project, program and transition manager, as well as a skilled coach. She is highly motivated to ensure people's happiness and believes in accomplishing work together. With Master's degrees in Human Geography and Psychology, Anna has previously driven innovation at Geodan and TomTom. Her unique blend of technical knowledge and people-management skills contributes significantly to her current role as the coordinator of the BEHOLDER project. Anna's mantra is: "Technically everything is possible, but success ultimately depends on the person." This means her approach to project management focuses on keeping all talent engaged, which is a nice challenge in Beholder as we are a consortium with many different talents.
Peter van de Crommert
Peter van de Crommert is founder and Director Strategy & Innovations at DISSS. Peter is an enthusiastic and highly experienced Senior Project manager, Community Manager and Senior Business Consultant with 40 years of experience in (Geo-) IT in several markets like Government (focus on Safety and Security and Smart Secure Cities), Utilities and Telecom. In a quickly developing and highly demanding environment Peter finds solutions to complex challenges with a co-creative and practical approach. Peter holds a Bachelor degree in City Planning and a Master degree in Geographical Information Systems. Previously, he worked for DITSS Foundation, Geodan, ESRI, Getronics, Siemens-Nixdorf and the Province of South Holland.
Vivian Gravenberch
Vivian serves as a board member and the Head of Research and Marketing at DISSS. She earned a Master's degree in Investigative Criminology, specialising in geographical profiling and environmental criminology. Vivian is proficient in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, risk and vulnerability management in public spaces, and is a researcher on various criminology topics. Her strong suits include dissecting complex issues and illustrating them in an understandable manner. She then translates these into tangible outcomes like podcasts, videos and training materials. Her aim is to ensure all stakeholders have equal access to information, bearing in mind everyone absorbs information differently. In BEHOLDER, she is the stakeholder manager for the project and is actively involved in work packages 2 and 5.
Sara Houweling
Sara Houweling is a linguist and communications strategist for DISSS, with expertise in logic, rhetoric and intercultural communication. She pursued additional studies in Intelligence Studies to apply her knowledge in security contexts. She now contributes her expertise to local, national and international projects related to safety and security, including ISFP initiatives. Her aim is to offer inclusive communication throughout projects, ensuring accessibility for and involvement of all stakeholders, and to ensure appropriate handling of sensitive topics and information in order to maximise impact and project results. In BEHOLDER, Sara is active in work packages 2, 5 and 6.
DISSS Team of Experts
Paul van Soomeren
Bram van Dijk
Tinus Kanters
Melissa Somhorst
DISSS has a dedicated team of experts driving the BEHOLDER project forward with their specialised knowledge. This team of experts consists of Bram van Dijk (Expert in Crime Prevention, scientific liaison), Paul van Soomeren (Expert in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and Security by Design) and Tinus Kanters (Expert in Smart Cities, Living Labs and Crowd Management). They are dedicating their decades of experience mainly to work packages 2 and 5. Melissa Somhorst is the project controller for DISSS and responsible for the administrative and financial management of the project.