Sexuality and intimacy are vital aspects of human life and wellbeing, regardless of one’s health. Incurable cancer and its treatment can cause sexual health issues, impacting both patients and their partners. Given the double taboo of sexuality and death, the impact of incurable cancer on sexual wellbeing is often neglected. Recognizing and addressing sexual health is crucial for enhancing quality of life of these patients. This project therefore aims to understand sexual wellbeing and perceptions of the double taboo of people with incurable cancer and their partners, to support them in their needs and wishes.

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Social policy decisions are often informed by short-term outcomes. This results in ‘firefighting’ instead of long-term prevention. This causes unnecessary suffering. Preventive policies early in life are probably particularly effective, given their lifelong consequences. These long-term effects remain invisible - models to quantify them don’t exist. We make these long-term effects visible, so they can be incorporated in policy decisions. We develop innovative simulation models for this and apply these to two policy cases: free-of-charge contraceptives, and childcare subsidies. Our models can also be applied to other policy domains, contributing to a shift in policy making from ‘firefighting’ to prevention.

De Hub for Impactful and Engaged Research (HIER) transformeert het versnipperde landschap van maatschappelijke betrokkenheid (CE) door een centrum van excellentie op te richten binnen vijf verbonden kennisinstellingen. Via een gestructureerd, transdisciplinair netwerk zal HIER CE-praktijken coördineren en zichtbaar maken, zodat ze toegankelijk zijn voor onderzoekers, docenten, professionele diensten en burgernetwerken. De impact van HIER wordt gedreven door drie kerngebieden: institutionele verankering, capaciteitsopbouw en samenwerking. HIER implementeert instellingsspecifieke ondersteuning, cross-collaboratieve initiatieven en kennisdelingsevenementen. HIER bevordert impactvol en betrokken onderzoek, zodat het ‘hier’ is voor burgers en gemeenschappen om deel te nemen aan kenniscoproductie.