Date: Friday 5 February, 2027 – Location: Kanaal30, Utrecht

Registration for the next ESCH-R Science Day is now open! Although the programme is still taking shape, the 2027 Science Meeting promises another inspiring day of knowledge exchange, networking, and collaboration. Researchers, healthcare professionals, and consortium partners will come together to explore innovative ideas and advance the transition to circular healthcare.

ESCH-R PI Nicole Hunfeld presents during France’s first ‘Sustainable Care Day’ in Paris

The French healthcare performance agency ANAP (Agence nationale d’appui à la performance des établissements de santé et médico-sociaux) held the very first Journée nationale des soins éco-responsables — the national day of eco-responsible care — on Tuesday June 30, 2026. The event took place at the Beffroi de Montrouge, on the edge of Paris, and drew around 700 participants from the French (and Dutch!) hospital and healthcare sector.

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We are seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher for a 24-month appointment (0.8–1.0 FTE) within the Department of Applied Economics, Behavioural Economics section, at Erasmus School of Economics (ESE). The position is embedded in Work Package 3 of the ESCH-R project and focuses on designing, implementing, and evaluating behavioural interventions that support the transition towards circular healthcare in hospitals.

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Steering sustainability transitions in complex organizations, such as hospitals, may benefit from iterative, situated, and participatory experimentation. Co-creation holds particular promise in this regard, acting as a “pebble” in the system that generates ripple effects towards sustainable change. However, its implications and methodologies within hospital systems, especially those grounded in design practice, remain underexplored. 

This paper investigates designerly co-creation through seven medical device design projects conducted by master’s students in collaboration with healthcare professionals. Drawing on observations of co-creation processes and 14 interviews, the study identifies designerly co-creation as both an “incubation space” for sustainability innovations and a potential “catalyst for change” in staff behaviors, mindsets, competencies, and hospital procedures. The paper contributes to the growing body of knowledge on design for sustainability transitions by highlighting the evolving role of co-creation in steering change and generating impact within hospital contexts.

Authors

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Health systems in the Netherlands must be equipped to respond to climate-related challenges. As a trusted interface between society and healthcare, nurses play a critical leadership role in mitigating and addressing climate-sensitive health risks. Establishing a baseline understanding of nurses’ awareness, concern, motivation and behaviors related to climate change is therefore essential. However, no validated Dutch instrument exists to assess these competencies. The Climate and Health Tool, originally developed and validated in the United States of America, has demonstrated strong reliability and validity and offers a promising foundation for adaptation.

Reflecting on the significance of this work for the ESCH-R project, Kim Verhaegh (co-author) emphasizes: “This publication makes an important contribution to the ESCH-R project by providing a validated Dutch instrument to assess climate and health awareness among nurses. The tool enables the reliable measurement of knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behaviors related to climate change and health, allowing educational initiatives and interventions to be better tailored to the needs of healthcare professionals. In addition, it provides a valuable foundation for monitoring changes over time and evaluating the impact of ESCH-R activities. Ultimately, this study supports the continued development of a climate-resilient and future-proof healthcare system.”

Authors

Sustainable circular healthcare in hospital departments. How do you influence these protocols?

On Thursday, 17 September 2026, the seventh Community of Practice, organised by WP6, will take place. Please note that this Community of Practice will be conducted in Dutch.

This edition focuses on how nurses and allied health professionals can contribute to sustainable circular healthcare in hospital departments, and the role that local protocols play in this process. Protocols are local adaptations of clinical guidelines. By critically reviewing these adaptations, opportunities for making care more sustainable can be identified.

How can you approach this? How do you collaborate with your local Green Team, procurement department and infection prevention specialists? How can you apply the R-ladder in practice? Using examples from Erasmus MC and other healthcare organisations, you will gain practical tools to help implement sustainable improvements based on both common sense and evidence-based practice.

Date: Thursday, 17 September 2026
Time: 16:00–17:00 (CEST)
Location: Online via Microsoft Teams
Language: Dutch

During this Community of Practice, Nicole Hunfeld (ESCH-R Principal Investigator) and Maike Tietschert (Assistant Professor, Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management) will share practical approaches to making protocols more sustainable at the department or team level. You will leave the session with concrete ideas, step-by-step approaches, practical tools and the latest scientific insights to help you start implementing sustainable changes within your own department.

Postdoctoral Researcher (2 years) – Research on Circular Hospital Care

We are seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher for a 24-month appointment (0.8–1.0 FTE) within the Department of Applied Economics, Behavioural Economics section, at Erasmus School of Economics (ESE). The position is embedded in Work Package 3 of the ESCH-R project and focuses on designing, implementing, and evaluating behavioural interventions that support the transition towards circular healthcare in hospitals. The preferred starting date is no later than 1 January 2027; an earlier start date can be discussed.

The ideal candidate is proactive, well-organised, an excellent communicator, and comfortable working in complex multidisciplinary environments. We are looking for someone who enjoys combining insights from different strands of literature and translating academic knowledge into practical interventions that contribute to the transition towards circular healthcare. The candidate will work closely with researchers, healthcare professionals, policymakers, and operational stakeholders within the Dutch healthcare system.

As the field experiments will take place in Dutch hospitals, fluency in Dutch (C2 level) is required.

Contact

For questions about the research project, please contact the postdoctoral supervisors:
Dr Sophie van der Zee or Dr Maike Tietschert. For questions regarding the application procedure, please contact Linda Klaver (Operations Manager).

Internal Events

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External events

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Would you like to share your ESCH-R news? Whether it’s vacancies, new PhDs, student achievements, research updates, publications with science insights, tweets, media appearances, or anything else, we’d love to hear from you! 

When sharing your news, please make sure to attach your photos/images or figures and always make sure when people are visible, you have their permission to use the pictures.

Below the format you can use to share your news with us:

• What is the purpose of your news? 
• What title can we use?
• Who attended (names, roles, if related to ESCH-R meetings/events)?
• What were the main topics discussed or key findings?
• Were any follow-up actions or appointments agreed upon?
• Is there anything special or noteworthy?

If you post on social media yourself, feel free to use these hashtags:
#circularhealthcare #circularity #ESCH-R #circularhospital #sustainability #research #greenhealthcare

Share your updates with us via info@esch-r.org, and we’ll include them in our next newsletter and publish the news on our website and possibly social media!

Deadlines for newsletter submissions:

• 11 September, 2026
• 6 November, 2026

ESCH-R Publication Procedure

We would like to remind you of the ESCH‑R publication procedure. Please make sure to fill in the publication template when planning a scientific publication.

The ESCH‑R project board has established this procedure to provide guidance and ensure transparency for all researchers and partners within the ESCH‑R consortium. By submitting your manuscript plan at an early stage, the project board can offer advice on potential collaborations, data availability and management, publication formats, license options to help avoid article processing charges (APCs), and the correct way to acknowledge ESCH‑R in your publication.

You can find both the explanatory document and the template in Teams.

If you have questions, feel free to reach out to Naomi Kakiailatu: n.kakiailatu@erasmusmc.nl

Have you been approached by a journalist for an interview or article about ESCH-R? Please let us know! We coordinate PR efforts to ensure clear and consistent messaging.

Before responding, reach out to Maaike and Nicole so we can align and provide any necessary support.

Thank you!

ESCH-R 

Email adress: info@esch-r.org
Email adress: ESCH-R@erasmusmc.nl
Website: www.esch-r.org