About Us

Decidia (pronounced de·​cid·​i·a) Research & Consulting is a young Spain-based company specialized in integrated analysis and methods for decision support. We engage national agencies, local communities, technology providers and research laboratories in order to design modeling procedures and decision-making frameworks that better manage uncertainty and conflict.
We operate on a broad spectrum of areas ranging from geological disposal to radioactive waste management, nuclear decommissioning, environmental remediation, resource management, energy systems and large infrastructures.
By bridging the gap between social and technical dimensions of analysis, we provide tools that tackle complex decision problems and projects.

Why decidia?

The Caleta decidia (or angled Pierrot) is a species of blue butterfly found in south Asia and southeast Asia. It was first discovered by William C. Hewitson in India (1876). It has since then been found in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Dr. Diaz-Maurin has a special connection to butterflies as a species, the Meroleuca diazmaurini first found by Decaëns, Bonilla & Ramirez in Central Colombia (2004), was named after his brother.

At decidia, we cover the full life cycle of your decisions and projects—from framing to design, licensing, operation, monitoring and dismantling.
Our Services

Our Mission

In the 21st century, deploying large infrastructures and technologies can no longer be made in isolation from its societal context. Even using state-of-the-art models is no guarantee that their insights will be readily accepted by society—most likely the opposite. Yet, as the design and regulation of technologies and policies are relying on models of increasing complexity, society has few options to make its own judgment over their value. To make such judgement, a holistic approach to systems is needed. Integrated analysis approaches represent an effective way to cut through the complexity of systems and to provide a broader societal view that completes—but does not replace—models for decision support.

At Decidia we believe that the integrated analysis approach to science and technology is one most effective way to respond to societal demands and regulatory requirements in decisions and projects.

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Albert Einstein

A long dedication to integrated analysis for decision support

“I have always been driven by a holistic approach to systems thinking—from large infrastructures to energy supply and radioactive waste management and disposal systems. From my years as a civil engineer at Setec TPI in Paris, France, working on the soil-structure interaction I developed a condensed model of a nuclear reactor building that accurately captured the seismic response of a full 3D finite element model. Then, as a structural and mechanical engineer in the nuclear industry at Areva NP in Boston, MA, I developed a simplified model that analyses the impact of a steam explosion inside the reactor building under extreme conditions. Later, as a scientist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, I pushed forward this mindset to tackle the issue of energy systems and their complex relations with societal demands for natural resources—the so-called “nexus”. Finally, in my most recent work at Stanford University, CA, I have developed a socio-technical approach to the design of nuclear waste management strategies and to the comparison of disposal systems in different geological settings.”

François Diaz-Maurin, September 2020.

Our Team

François Diaz-Maurin, PhD

Chief Consultant & Founder

François Diaz-Maurin is the chief consultant and founder of Decidia. François has gained over 15 years of international experience in scientific and strategic advice as well as in industrial and academic research. He is specialized in multi-scale integrated analysis and multi-criteria evaluation methods for decision support, conflict management and uncertainty management. His main areas of expertise are geological disposal, radioactive waste management, nuclear facilities, energy systems, large infrastructures and resource management.

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Anna Nikishova, PhD

Postdoctoral Scientist & Consultant

Anna Nikishova holds a Ph.D. (2020) and a M.Sc. (2016) in Computational Science from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on uncertainty propagation, sensitivity analysis, metamodeling, and dimension reduction of coupled systems. At Decidia, Anna brings her expertise in uncertainty quantification for auditing computational models for nuclear waste repositories that involve uncertainty.

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Jerold Yu

Data Scientist & Consultant

Jerold Yu holds a M.S. in Statistics (2020) and a B.S. in Mathematical and Computational Science (2019) from Stanford University. Jerold is passionate about leveraging data to uncover stories and to gain a better understanding of the world around us. At Decidia, Jerold contributes as a data scientist and programmer bringing his knowledge of machine learning, data mining, and data analytics.