He holds degrees in Law and in Economics, earned a PhD in Microeconomics, and in his spare time he has educated himself further on machine learning, AI and modelling. It is safe to say that Renes has a broad range of interests and expertise, which makes for a perfect fit with the multidisciplinary nature of TPM.

Renes: "After my post-doc in Germany, I started working at Erasmus University as an assistant professor of Accounting, but it was not what I was looking for. Then in early 2022, I came across the job opening for assistant professor of Economics of Technology and Innovation at TPM, and I thought it might be a good fit. I already knew the faculty from the TU Delft Gamelab, so I knew that interesting things were happening there. And it was even within cycling distance of my house."

The rules around decision-making

As an economist, Renes engages with institutional design. “Simply put, it is about the rules of the game and how they affect outcomes. We look at many different types of “games”, from markets and auctions, to decision-making procedures in committees, elections, and the way in which students are being assigned to schools. I start off by considering what the rules of the game look like and then move on to how we are able to modify the rules in order to achieve more desirable outcomes."

Renes cites the rules for voting procedures as an example. "You could, for example, opt for a two-thirds majority, 50 percent plus 1, or full consensus. But when should you use which form, and why? Full consensus may sound ideal, but it is actually very challenging in practice when you are dealing with many parties, for example, in the EU or the UN. The research focuses on finding out when a procedure does or does not work so that we can design better rules for making similar decisions in the future."

A behavioural lab: IBEX

One way to gather insights for better institutional design is through behavioural experiments. Renes is currently working with his colleague Rutger van Bergem to set up a behavioural lab: IBEX (Interdisciplinarity center for Behavioral EXperiments). Renes: "Delft has a few labs for behavioural research, such as the Game Lab or VR Zone. They also conduct physical experiments. But we did not yet have a lab for the research of group behaviour and the underlying mechanisms in a controlled environment."

"My economic experiments are often free of context," Renes tells us. "If you want to consider the mechanisms and rules around decision-making as purely as possible, other details such as circumstances, context, or external influences should not determine the outcomes. In other words, it concerns very basic experiments. If a mechanism or theory is found to work and make sense, you can repeat the experiment later with the context added: in a serious game, VR lab, or in practice, for example."

Adjusting the rules

For experiments in IBEX, we put a group of participants in a room at a computer. Each participant is assigned their individual role in the process. Renes: "Each role is connected to several tasks that are completed on the computer. After the first group of participants, we repeat the experiment a few more times with new groups. By changing the rules of the game between sessions, we can eventually discern the causal effects of rule changes on the decisions made."

According to Renes, IBEX can be used for research on a variety of topics. "For example, to test designs of the energy market with an eye towards the energy transition, or looking at decision-making processes related to treatment methods in health care, or tenders for infrastructure. As such, the lab can also be of interest to other faculties. As long as there is a decision-making component which you want to explore in a controlled environment the lab could be a useful tool."

Basic structure for behavioural experiments

By now, the first test session in IBEX has been conducted. Renes hopes to run the first official behavioural experiment before summer. With this lab, he aims to set up a basic structure for behavioural experiments. "Setting up a behavioural experiment takes a fair amount of time. You need to find a space, have the right tools, meet the ethical standards, have your administration in order, etcetera. By building a reusable infrastructure and writing a manual with procedures and testing everything through IBEX, we want to make sure that researchers do not have to keep doing that over and over again. That means that we can save other researchers a lot of time, money, and energy."

"One of the challenges of starting the lab is constructing the rules around methods," Renes says. "In behavioural research, there are methodological differences between disciplines. Economists, for example, never use deception - a method in which you tell untruths to participants - whereas in psychology this is allowed. We have now decided to distinguish between two types of experiments: one with and one without deception. So, figuring out and writing down the rules for IBEX is, in fact, in itself a form of institutional design."

Great student commitment

In addition to his work at the lab, Renes also teaches Economics. He has noticed his students' enormous commitment. "Particularly when it comes to feedback on the course or module. I taught 1300 students during my time at Erasmus University. There, I would get about thirty responses to the standard evaluation survey that was sent to the students. One time, for a response group, only two students had signed up, one of whom did not even show up."

In spite of the smaller number of students in Delft, the willingness to collaborate is much higher, Renes notes. "A while ago, the Curius study association asked me whether I would appreciate a focus group with students to help think about the changes we were making to the course. Suddenly, I found myself sitting and talking with ten students about what could be done better or differently, even while this was not going to be relevant to these students themselves. It mainly concerned the next batch of students. It was wonderful to see students being willing to freely give their time for future generations."

More structure and connection

Renes has now been at TPM for about a year, and certain things took some getting used to. "In particular, things sometimes lack some structure and overview. I keep finding out that other researchers are also doing something related to behavioural research or decision-making through chance encounters. It would be good if there was more visibility within TPM about who is working on what, to make it easier to collaborate, find inspiration, and exchange ideas."

One way in which Renes himself is trying to put research more in the spotlight is by organising section seminars. "Every two weeks, we organise a meeting in which a researcher from our section tells us what they are working on. It is interesting for the attendees to learn what colleagues are working on, but it is also useful for the presenters themselves. It is a good way to get feedback or useful tips, for example."

Renes also hopes to establish more connections within the TU Delft in the coming years. "Among the different labs, for example. So many wonderful things are happening here that could be linked to one another. This is currently happening far too little, although it doesn't need to be complicated at all. I want to meet with other behavioural researchers soon to see how we can increase the visibility and added value of their labs."