Academic Collaborative Center Work and Health

The Academic Collaborative Center Work and Health was established in 2015. Projects within the Center aim to promote sustainable employment, and focus on mental health and wellbeing. They entail both research, knowledge transfer and implementation. The perspective of workers, employers, and health care and rehabilitation professionals are considered important and are involved in most of the projects and activities. The Academic Collaborative Center Work and Health has two research lines: (1) promotion of sustainable employment (2) work re-integration. In many studies, the Capability Approach, with its focus on what people value, is used as a theoretical framework. Common research topics include: stigma as a barrier for sustainable employment, professional conduct of occupational health professionals, wellbeing of workers and consequences of (mental) health problems return to work after sick leave due to mental disorders and the role and actions of employers in these matters.

There are 4 professors within the Academic Collaborative Center, who all add their specific area of expertise and network. These are: 

• Prof. dr. Evelien Brouwers
  Prof. dr. Evelien Brouwers is an endowed professor affiliated with the Academic Collaborative Center of Work and Health. She is interested in psychosocial facilitators and barriers for sustainable employment, especially in people with mental health problems. In many of her studies she uses the Capability approach as theoretical framework. Her research chair is entitled: ‘Mental health and sustainable employment” and is financed by the four partners of the Academic Collaborative Center, i.e. Ascender, HumanTotalCare, NSPOH and Transvorm.   
• Prof. dr. Roland Blonk
  The research chair of Prof dr. Roland Blonk is entitled ‘Inclusive innovation of labor’ and focuses on how labor- and re-integration professionals can better support work reintegration of unemployed people on social benefits. He works at Tilburg University, at the departments Tranzo and Human Resource Studies. The chair is financed by the Stichting Arbeidsdeskundig Kennis Centrum (AKC).
• Prof. dr. Ruud Muffels
  Prof. dr. Ruud Muffels is professor of socio-economics and has a chair in ‘Labor market and social security’. He is also research fellow at NETSPAR, the network for research on ageing, and fellow at research institutes in Berlin (DIW) and Bonn (IZA). His research interests concern subjective wellbeing and health, labor market dynamics, inequality and poverty, ageing and pensions and comparative welfare state analysis.
• Prof . dr. Jac van der Klink
  Emeritus professor Jac van der Klink’s is also still affiliated with the Academic Collaborative Center Work and Health. Using the Capability approach as theoretical framework, his research evaluates how sustainable employment can be promoted in general and among several subgroups (eg. workers with dyslexia, health problems, intellectual giftedness).