GCRC Symposium 2026: Connecting Junior Researchers in Sustainable Healthcare and Planetary Health
The Green Care Research Collective (GCRC) will organise its first two-day symposium on 29-30 October 2026 in Groningen. The symposium will bring together junior and senior researchers, as well as their supervisors, from the fields of sustainable healthcare and planetary health. Its aim is to strengthen a rapidly growing but still fragmented field by creating opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange, collaboration, and capacity building.
The two-day programme will include keynote lectures, plenary pitches by junior researchers, poster sessions, workshops, and breakout sessions. A shared dinner will also be part of the programme, creating room for informal exchange between participants.
In addition, the symposium aims to collaborate with art academy Minerva and will showcase artworks from Alfa college related to sustainable healthcare and planetary health. We believe this offers a valuable way to connect scientific insights with broader societal and cultural perspectives.
The expected impact is threefold. First, it will support junior researchers by providing visibility, networking opportunities, and a platform to share their work. Second, it will stimulate interdisciplinary collaboration across fields such as medicine, pharmacology, philosophy, biomedical sciences, and business administration. Third, it will create greater awareness of the topics currently being studied within sustainable healthcare and planetary health, and of the different disciplinary perspectives that shape this emerging field.
The project team
The project team consists of junior researchers and members of the Green Care Research Collective (GCRC). It includes L. J. Radema (medicine, philosophy), H. J. Hansen (medicine), S. M. Kuipers (medicine and economics and business), R. Kat (biomedical sciences), J. N. Udo (pharmacology), K. K. Koszarska (pharmacology), L. E. Bödeker (medicine) and K. J. I. Remmers (pharmacology). Together, they bring interdisciplinary expertise in clinical care, sustainable healthcare, medication use, and systems thinking.