Care and Public Health Research Institute

Cross-border collaboration within the emergency medical service during the COVID-19 pandemic

New research by the International Knowledge and Information Centre on public safety, an Interreg project lead by Maastricht University, indicates that existing cross-border collaboration in EU border regions has only limited resilience in crisis situations.

Angelique de Rijk rapporteur of EU-plan ‘Cancer and Employment’

The EU working group “cancer & employment” presented recommendations to further improve Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan by regarding return-to-work support as integral part of cancer survivorship.

‘Bacteria & Borders': An artistic research project

Bacteria & Borders is a collaboration between visual artist Marlies Vermeulen and social scientist Alena Kamenshchikova

Costs overweight and obesity over €79 billion a year

The average societal costs of people with obesity and overweight are almost  €11.500 per year. This leads to a total cost for the Netherlands of more than €79 billion per year. This is the outcome of the study Burden of disease study of overweight and obesity; the societal impact in terms of cost-of-illness and health-related quality of life.

Developing a measurement scale that captures the full dimensions of health

Recently, ZonMw awarded a grant worth 742.000 euros to Marieke Spreeuwenberg and her team to develop a measurement scale for integrative health approaches.

New: UM Graduate School training programme

Daisy Janssen appointed professor in Old Age Medicine

The chair is an important link in interdisciplinary education and research in the field of care for the elderly in a vulnerable position within the Living Lab Ageing and Long-Term Care Limburg.

Katarzyna (Kasia) Czabanowska appointed professor of Public Health Leadership and Workforce Development

Fewer patients visited GP due to asthma or COPD during the covid-19 pandemic

Since the start of the corona pandemic in March 2020, the use of general practitioner care by patients due to asthma or COPD has been persistently lower than in 2019, the year before the corona pandemic. 

Green light for LIME 2.0 care innovation programme

The Province of Limburg has awarded a second tranche of subsidy of 2,040,000 euros to the 'Kennis-As' project LIME (LImburg MEet). LIME has proven itself in recent years as an accessible and interdisciplinary knowledge center and innovation platform for healthcare.

Veni grant for Daan Westra

The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded a prestigious Veni grant to Daan Westra.

Healthcare for undocumented migrants

Together with her master’s students, Milena Pavlova is investigating the access to healthcare of undocumented migrants. Her findings give cause for concern: in many countries, this group has no or little access to healthcare.

Borders and viruses, and how to deal with those

How do public health professionals manage Infectious Disease Control (IDC) in a very dynamic and densely populated Euregion such as the Euregion Meuse-Rhine with its active social life across the borders? That is what Dr. Alena Kamenshchikova and her colleagues wanted to find out. From December 2020 until April 2021, they investigated the way Euregional public health professionals in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands tried to control COVID-19.

Choices of hospitals in times of crisis; what does it do to staff?

Daan Westra en Bram Fleuren, leiden samen het project: ‘Uitproberen, aanpassen, opbranden? In dit project onderzoeken zij hoe ziekenhuizen zich aan de COVID-19 pandemie aanpassen en welke gevolgen dit heeft voor de duurzame inzetbaarheid van hun personeel.

Welcome to Francine Schneider: our new PhD Community Coordinator

Francine Schneider is our new PhD Community Coordinator as of 1 December 2021.

Winners Pitch your PhD!

33 high-quality pitches were submitted by our Phd candidates. After a careful pre-selection, 8 of them were selected to pitch their work at the CAPHRI online Research Meeting and had a chance to win the Jury or Audience PhD Pitch Award 2021.

Dissertation Award for Alena Kamenshchikova and Esther Steenaart

During the online CAPHRI Research Meeting on 23 November the Dissertation Award 2021 was presented to Alena Kamenshchikova and Esther Steenaart. The Dissertation Award recognizes the completion of an outstanding dissertation by a CAPHRI PhD candidate in 2020. 

CAPHRI Societal Impact Team Award for research on COVID-19 in nursing homes

On 23 November, the team within research institute CAPHRI that investigates COVID-19 in nursing homes received the CAPHRI Societal Impact Team Award for the great national and international impact their research has had on the well-being of nursing home residents.

Tobacco discouragement is only effective from €12 per cigarette pack

The only way to get enough people to quit smoking to achieve the goals of the National Prevention Agreement is to substantially increase the excise duty on tobacco products. This is the conclusion of research by Maastricht University (UM) on the price sensitivity of people who smoke cigarettes or rolling tobacco.

Catharina Pijls Dissertation Prize for Floor van den Brand

Floor van den Brand has won the Catharina Pijls Dissertation Prize for her ‘excellent research in the field of health sciences’.

New approach is needed in the fight against chlamydia

Chlamydia is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease (STD) worldwide and in the Netherlands. The clinical and public health relevance of widespread case finding by testing for asymptomatic Chlamydia infections is under debate.

Towards inclusive research at Maastricht University: survey results & video

Researchers from Maastricht University, Maastricht for Everybody, and IVO Research Institute formed a project team and received funding from the UM Diversity & Inclusivity office to examine inclusive research practices, barriers, and needs among Maastricht University research staff. Read more about the results!

Silvia Evers new Scientific Director CAPHRI

Prof. dr. Silvia Evers is appointed as scientific director of CAPHRI as of 1 November 2021. She succeeds Prof. dr. Maurice Zeegers.

Astrid van Tubergen appointed professor Outcome and innovation in rheumatology practice

Astrid van Tubergen has been appointed professor Outcome and innovation in rheumatology practice. She will give her inaugural lecture on 17 September. 

2 awards for paper on hospital adaptations to the COVID-19 pandemic

Best International Paper Award and the Best Theory to Practice Award for paper 'To Uncertainty and Beyond: Cataloging Hospitals' Adaptations during the COVID-19 pandemic'.

Co-creation Impact Compass: Working together for more impact

Do you want to improve the impact of your research or innovation project? You can find and select an appropriate co-creation method yourself!

VIDI grant for Hilde Verbeek

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded a prestigious Vidi grant worth 800,000 euros to Hilde Verbeek. 

The role of social networks in type 2 diabetes prevention, complication-risk and self-management

Social networks are causally related to disease and mortality; but what is state-of-the-art of social network research in type 2 diabetes prevention and care? Check out our new review paper.

Looking back: Inaugural lecture Hilde Verbeek

Does e-cigarette use among young people lead to smoking, or vice versa?

EUR 1.32 million for research into giving children a promising start using big data

The Nationale Wetenschapsagenda (national science agenda) has granted a consortium of 25 other organisations, 1.32 million euro to give children a promising start using big data.

Fruitful collaboration between SHE and CAPHRI results in another project on cost-conscious care

A ZonMw grant has been awarded to the project "Learning platform for guideline development: future-proof and sustainable".

Why you don’t need 8 hours of sleep at all, but at least 7 hours is recommended

Sleep has become a public health issue and is now seen as a lifestyle behavior. But what is good sleep? Recommendations are often contradictory and therefore confusing. Ree Meertens and Merijn van de Laar tell you what the science says about this topic. 
 

“We immediately stepped up and focused on COVID diagnostics”

Prof. Paul Savelkoul and Dr. Petra Wolffs (both Medical Microbiology) about their tireless work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and all the other research activities they continue to work on. 

Grant awarded for the development of new, highly sensitive breath test

Do social networks influence infectious diseases prevention behavior?

Suntan as beauty ideal hinders sun protection for children

Parents in the Netherlands don’t protect their children sufficiently from the sun. An overly positive view of suntanned skin seems to be partly to blame. Karlijn Thoonen: ‘We really have to get away from the idea that a suntan is “attractive and healthy”.

Nursing homes still reluctant to relax restrictions despite high vaccination rate

Despite a vaccination coverage of around 80 per cent, most nursing homes in the Netherlands have not yet significantly relaxed their visiting restrictions, according to recent research by Maastricht University (UM) and Radboud university medical center (Radboudumc) in Nijmegen.

Co-creation Impact Compass: Working together for more impact

The Co-creation Impact Compass supports healthcare researchers to select helpful and valid co-creation tools for the right purpose and at the right moment. 

“We need to actively involve people in vulnerable population groups in research on healthy living”

What do people in vulnerable segments of the population need in order to live healthy lives? This is the question Gera Nagelhout’s research focuses on. The new CAPHRI professor likes to involve her target group in her research. “If you only come up with things for people rather than with them, you will fail to reach them.”

“We need to actively involve people in vulnerable population groups in research on healthy living”

What do people in vulnerable segments of the population need in order to live healthy lives? This is the question Gera Nagelhout’s research focuses on. The new CAPHRI professor likes to involve her target group in her research. “If you only come up with things for people rather than with them, you will fail to reach them.”

Healthy Primary School of the Future - online talkshow

Children become healthier when they have healthy lunches at school, exercise in different ways and learn about healthy behaviour while at school. This is the result of the Kennis As project Healthy Primary School of the Future. For four years, Maastricht University scientists compared more than 2200 children at four project schools with those at four regular schools. The successful project has become the focus of a special talkshow, which you can watch here.

'Broader societal perspective needed to combat pandemic consequences'

In order to help politicians and policymakers make better decisions in future pandemics, health scientists’ advice must take into account the effects that pandemic-related measures have outside of the healthcare sector much more. Health economists from Maastricht University and the English city of Birmingham therefore call for a broader societal perspective in studies evaluating the economic impact of corona measures.

Edmond Hustinx Prize 2020 goes to Laure Wynants

Laure Wynants together with a team of forty researchers from the Netherlands and abroad, started a living review to review and appraise all published papers on COVID-19 prediction models. She was awarded the Edmond Hustinx Prize 2020.

“People finding each other is crucial for innovation”

Tim Welting and Paul Willems were both appointed professors in 2020. Quietly, as they have not yet been able to celebrate their inaugurations. After all, you can’t throw a party during a pandemic. But what you can do is give an online interview. Here, they talk about their work, their plans, and what drives them.

Tackling loneliness will also cut healthcare costs

Maastricht researchers argue that urgent measures are needed to tackle loneliness in society. Aside from their mental welfare needs, people who suffer from severe or very severe loneliness incur 40 to 50 percent higher healthcare costs up to a year later compared to people who don’t feel lonely. The difference is greatest among young people aged between 19 and 40.

Research and innovation in elderly care now spans the whole of Limburg

The successful partnership the Living Lab in Ageing & Long-Term Care, initiated by Maastricht University, is being expanded. Having been joined by care organisations De Zorggroep, Proteion and Stichting Land van Horne in north and central Limburg, the partnership now covers the entire province.