Healthy Start
Improving the future for new generations
We believe every child and young adult should have the opportunity to reach their full developmental potential. Within Healthy Start we explore the early-life origins of disparities in health and wellbeing from a transdisciplinary perspective. In this way we can identify early-life opportunities and co-create innovative preventive strategies with our partners, leading to better health, wellbeing and participation for future generations.
Mission
We believe that the integration of medical, social and technical sciences, combined with knowledge from and application in practice, will lead to ground-breaking solutions for complex societal challenges for youth, from conception to young adulthood.
Our goal is to realize scientific and societal impact – focused on prevention and intervention – to improve physical, mental and social health of children and adolescents.
Ambitions
1st 1000 DAYS
Reduce avoidable health inequality in the first 1000 days
CARE PATHWAYS AND HOSPITAL
Improve and redesign the organization of care for young patients and their caretakers
ACTIVE LIVING AND LIFESTYLE
Improve quality of life and life expectancy of chronically ill children by improving active living and healthy lifestyle
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MENTAL HEALTH
Improve mental health and resilience of children and adolescents
CRIME AND ADDICTION
Reduce juvenile delinquency and addiction
YOUTH PARTICIPATION
Increase involvement and participation of unheard youth in society
Acadamic Leads
The management team is responsible for the overarching strategy and direction of Healthy Start. They monitor the Healthy Start mission and approach in ambition projects, education and collaboration with stakeholders. The management team consists of the three scientific leads Eveline Crone, Vincent Jaddoe and Maaike Kleinsmann, and programme manager Jennifer Kockx.
Get involved!
In order to tackle complex societal problems, collaborations between scientific disciplines and society are essential. Therefore, Healthy Start will continuously build upon an interdisciplinary community, which includes you!
Healthy Start strongly values educating and facilitating researchers of the future: researchers for whom working and collaborating inter- and transdisciplinary is the default way of working. Convergence Fellows and Convergence PhD candidates will establish sustainable and effective connections between scientific disciplines and between science and practice.
What’s in it for you?
- Get involved in one of our ambition projects
- Develop a researcher of the future profile
- Connect with researchers with the (Young) Healthy Start Community
- Engage in low threshold interdisciplinary collaboration
- Ask new questions and discover new methodologies
The Healthy Start | Young Board
Within Healthy Start, we highly value the voice of early career researchers working with children and youth. A dedicated team, representing the convergence of three universities, will form the initial Healthy Start Young Board. The aim of the HS Young Board is to build a community among early career researchers and develop innovative projects in which disciplines can converge. The HS Young Board will also function as a sounding board for the leads and broader Healthy Start program. They will actively collaborate with other societal stakeholders and create a physical convergence hub to work together.
Looking back: The healthy Start conference
At this conference we presented a Healthy Start proposition and inspired each other on how to converge our work on Healthy Start challenges, using transdisciplinary and translational collaboration. Missed it? Make sure to watch the livestream below.
Reach out to us
Let’s improve the future of new generations together
