Grant worth almost €1 million for various projects
Christian Hoebe, Maria Jansen and Frans Feron have, together, secured a grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw). The money will be used to fund various studies that serve a clear societal purpose.
Read more about the research proposals in the attached triptych.
Learning lessons from Q fever epidemic
Christian Hoebe
Physician/epidemiologist and head of Infectious Disease Control department at South Limburg GGD
Who runs the greatest risk of being infected in the event of a Q fever outbreak? And how can the spread of Q fever during an outbreak be prevented, so that fewer people fall ill? Christian Hoebe’s research, for which he has now received a grant of almost €240,000, aims to answer these questions and more.
In 2009, Q fever broke out at a goat farm in Voerendaal. “Our aim is to draw lessons from this epidemic”, says Hoebe. For this reason, he is – naturally – more than pleased with the grant. “Now we can do further research on the data we collected last year, in order to set up measures that will prevent the spread of infection next time.”
The saving grace of the Q fever epidemic in South Limburg was that only one farm was affected. This stands in contrast to North Brabant, where Q fever broke out at several farms. According to Hoebe, “this makes our epidemic ‘unique’, and allows us to map its course with relative ease.”
Although Q fever in humans usually causes only a light- to mild-infection, a small proportion of patients become seriously ill from the bacteria. If this is combined with other illnesses, Q fever can even be deadly in some cases. What’s more, pregnant women who are infected are at risk of miscarriage
In the Q fever outbreak in Voerendaal, 50 people who had come into contact with the goat farm fell ill, as did a further 200 people throughout the region. On the basis of the collected data, the objective is now to determine how the bacteria spreads among the population. “This revolves around the transmission of the bacteria via the goats, air and humans.”
The research should also indicate the degree to which individuals run the risk of being infected, an aspect in which the location of a goat farm in the region plays an important role. Finally, the researchers aim to gain insight into the factors that are involved when an individual actually falls ill from the bacteria. Volker Hackert will obtain his PhD on this topic.
A quick scientific answer to council questions
Maria Jansen
Programme leader Academic Collaborative Centre Public Health Limburg
Providing scientifically underpinned answers to urgent questions from municipal councils within three to six months is the starting point for the short-term projects initiated by the Academic Collaborative Centre (ACC) for Public Health.
Needless to say, Maria Jansen is pleased that the ZonMw has awarded her research proposal with a grant worth almost €150,000. “A PhD programme lasts around four years, and sometimes that’s just too long for municipal councils”, she explains. “They regularly have acute questions for which they need a sound, scientifically underpinned answer quickly. That’s what we’ll be doing.”
Councils will be expressly invited to put their questions on the table. “We’ll be focusing first and foremost on civil servants and public health councillors. It’s also likely that we’ll be involved in cases in which public health aspects play a role, such as the setup of a playground or a low-traffic school area.”
In addition, Jansen has received a further €225,000 from the ZonMw for her research proposal focusing on the infrastructure of the ACC. In this study, staff known as BOP’ers will figure prominently: that is, those who master the language and culture of policy (beleid), research (onderzoek) and practice (praktijk), and can, thus, form a bridge between these three worlds. “We all sit on our own separate islands far too much, and I’m certain that these ‘bridge builders’ can bring about change to this effect. They could also contribute to the feeling of reciprocity. We have to move more towards the idea that scientific research can also help to solve policy and practice-related problems.”
In practice, the BOP’ers will be used to promote mutual communication, among other things. They will collaborate on the writing of internship and research proposals. They will also be used to provide colleagues with specific advice on education components at the university, or to point them in the direction of experts from municipal councils, practitioners’ institutions and elsewhere in the university.
Why do young people skip school and drop out early?
Frans Feron
Endowed professor of Youth Health Care and paediatrician at South Limburg GGD
Why do young people drop out of school before completing their diploma? And why do they play truant from school? These are the core questions of Frans Feron’s research, which recently landed a ZonMw grant worth almost €290,000.
School absenteeism and dropout are complex problems that are associated with a raft of factors, sometimes in combination with one another, such as the pupil’s temperament, behaviour and personal characteristics, or the school, parents, family, and neighbourhood in which the pupil lives. The aim is to now conduct more in-depth research into the relationship between school absenteeism and learning performance, young people’s physical and mental health, and their socioeconomic status. Because dropping out of school and playing truant are often phenomena handed down from one generation to another, timely recognition of the possible risk factors is of great societal importance.
Another important topic in the study is the difference between boys and girls. Boys are absent much more often than girls, and this difference has increased still further since the implementation of the studiehuis, a Dutch construct in which students are expected to learn independently, work in groups and perform independent research.
The ultimate goal of Feron’s research is to help us better identify the signals that point towards imminent truancy, so that this can, potentially, be prevented. A further aim is to apply the knowledge that is acquired from the research to education. Schools will then be better able to anticipate the individual risk of truancy and dropout. What is more, this will also give rise to the potential for an overhaul of the policy approach. In this way, the research serves the interests of both policy and practice.