Sustainability

Corinna Glasner
My name is Corinna Glasner. I live in a world where little microbes matter, the world of medical microbiology and infection prevention, the world of human health. After I finished my PhD “Bacterial fingerprints across Europe” in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention at the University Medical Center Groningen and a short adventure in Cambridge at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, I am now, since August 2016, the scientific project manager of two INTERREG projects called “EurHealth-1Health” and “health-i-care”. Together with around 50 science, business and health partners in the Dutch-German border region, we try to combating antibiotic resistance and improving infection prevention. With our work we want to protect humans and in turn patients in our border region and beyond. With my work I learn and live every day in and for our exciting border region and Europe.

Jenny van Doorn
My name is Jenny van Doorn, I'm professor of Services Marketing at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen. My research focuses on the use of technology in services, in particular the use of robots and artificial intelligence. Use of such technology becomes also more and more common in healthcare and is seen as a potential solution for the challenges that the health care system faces given the increasing health care demand due to ageing populations and personnel shortages. The current generation of technological devices often already goes beyond a mere functional role and also engages its user on a social level, such as a robot doing physical exercises with the elderly or devices using speech technology to remind their users to e.g. take their medicine. In my research I explore how consumers react to such technology, and whether there are ways to overcome reluctance that in particular elderly people may feel to use it.

Extra keywords: Robots and chatbots in healthcare

Peter Meister Broekema
Peter Meister Broekema is senior researcher at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences and is also working on his dissertation at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen. In his research he is focusing on the relationship between co-creation and social innovation. By combining quantitative and qualitative research, he tries to disentangle the complex interactions between different types of partners in large multidisciplinary international projects. Besides that, he is also driven by a desire to ensure and stimulate the impact from research to society. At the moment he is working on a ZonMW funded project on Healthy Environments and three EU funded projects on the intersection between co-creation and social innovation.

Allard Hans Roest
Allard Hans Roest is a researcher and project leader at the professorship of Spatial Transformations – Water of the Hanze University of Applied Sciences. Allard’s practice-oriented research projects focusses on quantifying the effects of extreme weather (e.g. heat, pluvial floodings) on urban spaces and societies and how stakeholders can collaborate to deal with the effects of extreme weather in urban environments. In addition to his position at the Hanze, he is working on a PhD dissertation at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences of the University of Groningen where he focusses on where, how and with whom we can adapt to a changing climate. With this research, Allard hopes to accelerate adaptation efforts in urban environments and safeguard the liveability in cities.