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.
Our mission & goal
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
Our Approach
1. Interdisciplinary
Collaboration and integration of scientific disciplines and exchange of methodologies. Input from and interaction between (bio)medical, social, managing, economical, design, technical and behavioural sciences.
2. Linking science & society
Co-design, interaction and co-creation between scientists and relevant stakeholders, including youth, parents, caregivers, youth workers, teachers and policy officers.
3. Impact Plan approach
Increase opportunities for societal impact by using the ‘Theory of Change’ and ‘Impact Pathways’.
OUR COMMUNITY
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
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
