Author: Esch-R

Congratulations to Cathelijn Bogers, Master Student Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft, who recently graduated! Her graduation project is called ‘Towards Sustainable Cooling: Designing Reusable Cooling Pads for ICU Patients’.  Yearly around 300 patients at Erasmus MC receive...

Op donderdag 21 mei vindt de zesde Community of Practice plaats, georganiseerd door WP6. Tijdens deze online sessie gaan we samen in gesprek over hoe we duurzaamheid en circulariteit concreet kunnen verankeren in de zorg. Deze editie is er aandacht voor de rol van beleid in de verankering van...

The circular healthcare chain: learning from Medtronic about the future of medical technology – New podcast! In this episode of the ESCH-R podcast, host and lead researcher Nicole Hunfeld visits the Bakken Research Center (BRC) in Maastricht to find out. She sits down with Mark...

Congratulations to Vita van den Broek, Master Student Innovation Management at the TU Eindhoven, who recently graduated! Her graduation project is called ‘Circular Business Models and Downstream Value Chain Collaboration in the Medical Device Industry’.  In her graduation...

On 17 April 2026 Dr. Nicole Hunfeld, Principal Investigator of ESCH-R, participated in the Tomorrow’s Green & Equitable Hospital Forum, hosted by Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. Nicole joined the panel “Achieving equitable health care requires transformative...

In this episode of the ESCH-R podcast, host and lead researcher Nicole Hunfeld visits the Bakken Research Center (BRC) in Maastricht to find out. She sits down with Mark Lazeroms, Research Director at the BRC, and Janny Boekhout, Sustainability Manager at Medtronic, a valued partner in the...

Making healthcare more sustainable is not just about going green. When it comes to making healthcare more sustainable, we are of course talking about reducing emissions, waste and water consumption, but also about fair working conditions, human rights, health promotion, equal access, financial...

The sustainable healthcare movement is growing and thriving. After picking the low-hanging fruit, it’s time to go after the higher-hanging fruit. According to Nicole Hunfeld and Wouter Hehenkamp, we’re not there yet. To get there, we need to move away from the idea that “anything goes in...

Four ESCH-R students are nearing the completion of their research project. Their work focuses on accelerating circular interventions in hospitals – from reducing waste to rethinking and redesigning medical materials. In doing so, they contribute to a more sustainable and future-proof...

Interview with Erik van Raaij – WP4 Lead Esch-R on the website of the Dutch Implementation Collective (KiZ – Quality and Safety in Healthcare). Sustainability, or “green” healthcare, is not a new topic. However, the level of attention it receives within healthcare is relatively recent –...

On March 12, the Young Medical Delta Thesis Awards took place, featuring three outstanding Master’s presentations. The winning thesis was presented by Han Buck (MSc Integrated Product Design, TU Delft) with: “Ivy Connectors: Improving the Environmental Impact of Infusion Bags in Hospitals.” Han...

On 10 and 11 March, researchers, partners and stakeholders of ESCH-R came together in Rotterdam, The Netherlands for an intensive two-day co-creation session focused on advancing circular innovation in healthcare.  Day 1: Exploring Circular Business Models The first day focused on...

Congratulations to Iris Borst, Dual Degree MSc student Innovation Management & Industrial Design at the @TU Eindhoven, who recently graduated! Her graduation project is called ‘Unlocking the Loop’, a case study on embedding circular business model innovation in the product development...

On Tuesday, March 10th, 2026, a co-creation session was held as part of the development of the Living Lab Blueprint for the ESCH-R project. The session focused on visuals and practical questions: how do you set up Medical Circular Living Labs in the healthcare sector across two hospitals? What...