Radboud University (RU), Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Tilburg University (TiU), Wageningen University (WUR), University of Groningen (RUG), and Leiden University (LEI) are working on this theme.
Dr. P.J. (Pascal) Beckers is the coordinator on behalf of RU.
Prof. Dr. Wybo Houkes is the coordinator on behalf of TU/e.
Prof. Dr. Emiel Krahmer is the coordinator on behalf of TiU.
Prof. dr. Emely de Vet is coordinator on behalf of WUR.
Prof. Dr. M.J. (Marcel) Broersma is the coordinator on behalf of RUG.
Prof. dr. Marleen Dekker is coordinator on behalf of LEI.
Midterm evaluation 2025–2026
Within the SSH Cross-cutting Theme (DDT) Wellbeing and Health, a broad strategic focus has been chosen on digitalisation and inclusivity. How can we ensure that digitalisation is deployed optimally to promote wellbeing and health, without creating a “digital divide” between those who benefit from digitalisation and those who cannot or do not wish to?
In 2025, the self-evaluations for the midterm review were submitted. The main findings for this theme are as follows:
- At Tilburg University (TiU), the Theme Wellbeing and Health is an integral part of the university-wide Academic Collaborative Centre for Digital Health and Mental Wellbeing, established in 2023. Within this centre, researchers from various disciplines work together on the implementation of an interdisciplinary collaboration agenda developed jointly with societal partners.
- At Radboud University Nijmegen, the cross-cutting theme focuses primarily on the wellbeing and health of migrants. The UDs of the DDT in Nijmegen work closely with the university-wide Radboud University Network on Migrant Inclusion (RUNOMI) on issues relating to inclusivity in healthcare and the relationship between mental health and the (labour market) participation of migrants.
- At Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), research focuses on studying the effects of digitalisation, such as the use of AI applications in hospitals. An important concept here is digital wellbeing, including the wellbeing of human workers who “collaborate” with robots. Examples of projects currently underway include the Sharehouse project (in collaboration with TNO, STC and Erasmus University) and the MedGPT project on the ethics of generative AI in healthcare.
- At Wageningen University & Research (WUR), one UD has been appointed within the Theme Wellbeing and Health. The emphasis is on the healthy and liveable city, with specific attention to accessible, healthy and sustainable lifestyles. Broad prosperity is a connecting principle where health and wellbeing come together (the academic collaborative centre in Tilburg also starts from Broad Prosperity). The Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS), founded by WUR, TU Delft and MIT, plays a central role here, with the city of Amsterdam serving as an ecosystem for research.
Innovation in education
- At TiU, various educational innovations in the field of wellbeing and health have been initiated through the Academic Collaborative Centre for Digital Health and Mental Wellbeing. Since 2024, there has been a university-wide minor in Digital Health, to which all faculties contribute. In addition, a programme of Lifelong Learning (LLO) modules is being developed, in which professionals are taught for half a day on current topics in digital health and wellbeing. In 2025, the first two modules were developed: an Introduction to Digitalisation and Health specifically for municipal employees, and a module AI for Healthcare Professionals on the opportunities and risks of generative AI for physicians and psychologists.
- At Radboud University, efforts focus on interfaculty collaboration to develop new modules for existing BA and MA programmes or new courses outside the regular curriculum (summer schools, training programmes for refugees or professionals). Examples include two BA minors (On the Move: Mobility, Migration and Borders and Religion, Migration and Inclusion), the new MA course Digitalization, Migrant Identities and Wellbeing, and the new summer school course Migrant Health, in collaboration with Radboud UMC.
- Leiden University has started a new module Global Health in Africa for the Research Master in African Studies (Rethinking Global Health in Africa: learning from history, human rights and microbes) and a course Climate, Health and Medical Encounters in Africa for the BA in History and African Studies. In addition, contributions were made to the Leiden–Delft–Erasmus minors African Dynamics and Frugal Innovation for Sustainable Development (digitalisation), and to the MSc in International Health and Tropical Medicine in Oxford.
- At TU/e, the Theme Wellbeing and Health has been incorporated into a renewed track of the course Impact of Technology – Engineering Ethics, which is compulsory for first-year students in all BSc programmes at TU/e. This new track, launched in the 2023–2024 academic year and enrolling over two hundred participants annually, focuses in particular on behaviour-changing technologies for medical purposes.
- At WUR, the economics education within the Bachelor Health and Society and the MSc Communication, Health and Life Sciences was revised in 2025–2026: the emphasis on the (costs of) illness and (formal) healthcare has shifted towards prevention and health promotion in the public domain, in line with the focus of the Theme Wellbeing and Health. Within the MSc programme Metropolitan Analysis, Design and Engineering (WUR & TU Delft), attention is now also paid to health and liveability in the city.
- Finally, the Groningen UD within the Theme Wellbeing and Health is involved in the interdisciplinary MSc courses Challenges in a Healthy Society (part of the faculty theme Healthy Society) and Artificial Intelligence – A Multifaceted Perspective (part of the faculty theme AI and Digitalization).
Interdisciplinarity and interuniversity alignment and collaboration
Interdisciplinary collaboration is a core characteristic of the Theme Wellbeing and Health. Initiating new interdisciplinary collaborations takes time and requires regular contact, both locally between faculties and nationally between universities. At all participating universities, close contacts have now been established and new collaborations with other interfaculty research programmes have been initiated.
Concrete results of interfaculty collaboration include:
- At all universities involved in the Theme Wellbeing and Health, there is frequent interfaculty consultation in which research experiences and ideas are shared. That such collaborations are bearing fruit is evident in Tilburg, for example, where several joint project proposals have already been funded. A good illustration is provided by several “seed money” projects within the WeCare programme, the collaboration programme of Tilburg University and the Elizabeth Tweesteden Hospital (ETZ).
- At Radboud University, interfaculty collaboration has resulted, among other things, in participation in the international ARUA–The Guild Migration and Health Network, a public event on digitalisation and accessibility in elderly care, and an NWA grant application on promoting inclusion and participation of neurodivergent young people in the Netherlands.
- In Leiden, partly thanks to the Sectorplan, a collaboration has emerged between three faculties (Humanities/History, Social Sciences/Anthropology, Law/Children’s Rights), in addition to the interfaculty African Studies Centre.
- At TU/e, there is intensive collaboration with robotics researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and within EAISI, the Eindhoven centre for AI research.
- At the University of Groningen (RUG), two multi-day workshops on interdisciplinary collaboration and research were organised, resulting in a funded research project on AI and other digital technologies for the wellbeing and care of vulnerable older adults.
In addition to such interfaculty connections, an increasing number of interuniversity links are being established. There were already various collaborations among the university partners involved in the Theme Wellbeing and Health, ranging from joint research projects to shared PhD supervision and participation in PhD committees. However, the SSH-DDT Sectorplan has led to the different groups being much better informed about each other’s work and has made it considerably easier to connect. For example, there are concrete plans for a new joint study to be conducted via the LISS panel (which provides a representative sample of the Dutch population and is therefore highly suitable for studying individual differences in attitudes and insights regarding digitalisation and health; see also ODISSEI). The focus of this study will be on inclusivity in prevention and care in times of increasing digitalisation. Funding for this study has already been secured. A related opportunity for interuniversity collaboration is offered by the datasets on labour migrants in the Netherlands recently made available in the Radboud Data Repository, containing relevant data on (accessibility of) healthcare, occupational health provisions, and the living, working and housing conditions of labour migrants.
Furthermore, researchers from TU/e Eindhoven organised SPT 2025, themed The Intimate Technological Revolution, and researchers from Tilburg University presented their ongoing research on epistemic (in)justice in self-monitoring platforms for mental health.
During interuniversity meetings, potential contributions to the DiSa conferences of The Digital Society are also discussed and coordinated. This has led to the joint organisation of a session at the February 2025 meeting and at the annual DiSa conference on 20 November 2025.
Societal impact
- In Tilburg, there is significant societal interest in the Academic Collaborative Centre for Digital Health and Mental Wellbeing. Researchers in this centre collaborate with over a dozen societal partners, including hospitals such as the Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam, the Jeroen Bosch Hospital in ’s-Hertogenbosch, and Amphia Hospital in Breda, in addition to the aforementioned ETZ in Tilburg; mental healthcare organisations (GGZ Eindhoven, GGZ Breburg); patient organisations and platforms (MIND, kanker.nl); and various other partners.
- Radboud University focuses on further professionalising the RUNOMI impact strategy through collaboration with a range of societal partners in the Netherlands and abroad, including migrant communities. A national example is collaboration with partners such as Pharos, ENIEC and the Leyden Academy in webinars and workshops on the future of intercultural elderly care, digitalisation and healthcare.
- Leiden University actively focuses on collaboration with societal partners in Africa (for example the Africa Child Policy Forum) and implementation research in the field of malaria interventions. Leiden employs various forms of science communication and valorisation (such as podcasts). These valorisation activities align with the Dutch Global Health Strategy (2023–2030) and the KNAW (2023) report Planetary Health: An Emerging Field to be Developed.
- WUR collaborates within the Academic Collaborative Centre for Public Health (AGORA) with 22 municipalities, public health services (GGDs) and other societal partners, focusing on themes such as healthy ageing, healthy youth, and healthy lifestyles and living environments.
- In Eindhoven, collaboration with industrial and societal partners takes place within the Eindhoven Engine, established to address complex societal challenges. An example project within the Eindhoven Engine is the WECARE project, which provides digital support to people with dementia and involves collaboration with, among others, Alzheimer Nederland, Sara Robotics and Philips.