To further strengthen cooperation between TU/e, WUR, UU and UMC Utrecht, grants have been awarded to research across disciplines and institutions. The research projects are innovative and interdisciplinary. The seed money is being awarded for the eighth time and now more than 100 staff from the four institutions are working on joint research and education.
With this collaboration, the institutions promote the opportunity to look at major global issues in a new way and come up with innovative solutions.
The following projects were awarded seed money in July:
- Vitamin: Evidence-based circularity strategies of medical disposable through multiscale digital twins.
- Continuous Collaborative Circular Residency Network (C3RN) at DE PROEF campus.
- CE-Food Planner: A Regional Planning Support System for a Circular Equitable Food System in Eindhoven Metropolitan Region.
- Re-inventing wastewater for rural-urban circularity: co-creating pathways for the water, energy and food nexus in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.
- Using landscape-thinking to close loops regionally: the potential for healthy people and a healthy planet.
Vitamin: evidence-bases circularity strategies of medical disposables through multiscale digital twins
The institute 4 a Circular Society has awarded a €60.000 seed grant for this innovative and interdisciplinary research project in the Circular Safe Hospitals (CSH) research line.
In the pursuit of revolutionizing sustainability practices in healthcare, the integration of digital twins for medical disposables emerges as a promising avenue. This project goes beyond mere visualisation (i.e., digital shadows), as it endeavours to cultivate predictive, actionable, and device-specific digital twins, envisaging a paradigm shift towards evidence-based and well-balanced sustainability measures.
This project is carried out by: Olaf van der Sluis (Tu/e), Wei-Shan Chen (WUR), Indre Kalinauskaite (UMCU).
More information about the project.
Continuous Collaborative Circular Residency Network (C3RN) at DE PROEF campus
What if circular design expanded its scope beyond solutions exclusively tailored for human use and embraced the concept of considering nature’s use as well (more-than-human design)?
The project brings together designers, researchers and artists who will take the first steps in developing and implementing innovative circular solutions. The aim is to make ‘Living lab’ DE PROEF a unique circular innovation hub in which various interdisciplinary projects, such as a residency program and workshops, are facilitated.
This project is carried out by: Oscar Tomico – TU/e, Doenja Oogjes, TU/e, Ineke Nel TU/e, Clemens Driessen WUR, Sietze Norder UU.
More information about this project.
CE-Food Planner: A Regional Planning Support System for a Circular Equitable Food System in Eindhoven Metropolitan Region
Growing disruptions caused by financial, climate, and pandemic-related factors present significant challenges in our food systems. Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology, Wageningen University & Research, and Utrecht University are actively engaged in research within the Metropolitan Region Eindhoven (MRE). The primary objective of their research is to actualize a food system that is both circular and equitable. To achieve this goal, they are specifically focusing on the development of a specialized ‘planning support system’ (PSS) called the ‘Circular Equitable Food Planner’ (CE-Food Planner).
This project is carried out by: Dena Kasraian – TU/e, Theo Arentze – TU/e, Pieter van Wesemael – TU/e, Sol Maria Halleck Vega – WUR, Eveline van Leeuwen – WUR, Laura Piscicelli – UU
More information about this project.
Re-inventing wastewater for rural-urban circularity: co-creating pathways for the water, energy and food nexus in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area
After being discontinued in the 1920s due to concerns regarding hygiene and the environment, the practice of utilizing urban wastewater for food production has recently regained attention. Following that trend, this project focuses on the reintroduction of wastewater recycling. It explores the interconnections among energy, water, and food systems, with a focus on closing the cycles between cities and their surrounding suburban and rural areas.
This project is carried out by: Jonas van der Straeten – TU/e, Bas J.M. van Vliet – WUR, Jochen Monstadt – UU, Katharina Hölscher – UU
More information about this project.
Using landscape-thinking to close loops regionally: the potential for healthy people and a healthy planet
In light of the depletion of our planet’s resources caused by current food systems and the low quality of our diets, the concept of the ‘Planetary Health Diet’ (PHD) has emerged. A collaborative team of researchers from Wageningen University & Research, Utrecht University, and Utrecht University Medical Centre is conducting an investigation into circular, nature-based solutions that can support the implementation of the Planetary Health Diet (PHD).
This project is carried out by: Ilse Voskamp – WUR, Martijn Kuller – UU, Yvonne van der Schouw – UMC Utrecht, Annemieke Kok – UMC Utrecht