Healthcare has a significant ecological impact. This underscores the urgency of integrating ecological sustainability into healthcare decision-making, i.e., considering and formally assessing the environmental burden caused by a healthcare intervention compared to an alternative, including the effects on air, land, water, and ecosystems. Such integration requires practical decision-support tools (DSTs) to incorporate environmental impact in care management decisions. The MECH-I project addresses this by creating two DSTs in co-creation with relevant stakeholders:

1. DECISION-I: A tool that aggregates the environmental impact of care pathways for comparative assessment.

2. DECISION-II: A tool that Integrates environmental impact into healthcare policy decisions.
   By combining quantitative data with stakeholder-informed methods, MECH-I supports a transition to healthcare that is effective and environmentally responsible. 

You will participate in developing these tools as part of a large national consortium consisting of clinical epidemiologists, health economists, implementation scientists, ethicists, sustainability & planetary health experts, policy makers, and insurers. Key activities in your PhD will be: (i) performing desk research, i.e., reviewing scientific literature and policy documents, (ii) conducting stakeholder consultations to prioritize and weight environmental impact measures, (iii) developing two decision support tools (see above) and testing these in specific case studies, and (iv) developing together with end-users guidance to guarantee relevance and usability of the tools.

Department of Epidemiology and Health Economics

In this position, you will work and be supervised in the Department of Epidemiology and Health Economics of the Julius Center at the UMC Utrecht. Specifically, you will work in the Methods of Epidemiological Research team; in this team we evaluate and develop new research methods and guidelines for the evaluation of different types of innovations. You will be part of an energetic, enthusiastic team of more than 30 colleagues from different backgrounds. The Julius Center has an extensive national and international network.

• Holds a MSc degree in (clinical) epidemiology, biomedical or health sciences, environmental / sustainability sciences, health policy making, one health, or related field.

• Has a keen interest in healthcare and healthcare research.

• Is interested in the ecological impact of healthcare innovations, and healthcare policy making, and working on making healthcare more sustainable.

• Enjoys interdisciplinary collaboration.

• Can work in a diverse environment where different views exist and is able to incorporate these views and highlight where differences arise.

• Has fluency in written and spoken English

• Ideally has fluency in Dutch as well, considering the project is largely focused on the Netherlands and Dutch stakeholders.

• Experience in (bio)medical research, or sustainability / environmental research is considered a plus.

• A salary between € 3108 - € 3939 gross per month (salary scale OIO), based on full-time employment (36 hours).
• Year-end bonus of 8.3% and holiday allowance of 8%.
• Pension insurance with ABP. We take care of approximately 70% of the monthly contribution.
• 100% public transport reimbursement. Are you coming on foot, by bike or by car? You will then receive a reimbursement of € 0.18 per km (by car up to a max. of 40 km one way).
• Possibilities to develop yourself personally and professionally.
• The option to select additional employment benefits in exchange for gross salary, such as purchasing a bicycle and memberships.