International cooperation
UMC Utrecht works on innovation in healthcare, research and education together with strategic partners worldwide.
International strategic network for healthcare, research and education programs
To improve the quality and impact of healthcare, research and education, we collaborate with Utrecht University in a strategy network with KU Leuven, University College London, the University of Toronto, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong on inter-university healthcare, research and education programs.
In 2022 for example we further strengthened our ties with KU Leuven. The first PhD students to follow a dual PhD program could thus get started. They are doing their research both in Leuven and in Utrecht, and will receive a degree from Leuven as well as Utrecht. We also assessed the results of projects that were financed through grants from UMC Utrecht internationalization committee. One of the results is a study by a UMC Utrecht researcher in cooperation with KU Leuven that led to the establishment of a spin-off called TargED . TargED develops a biological drug to improve the treatment of microvascular thrombosis and acute ischemic stroke.
Eureka Institute for Translational Medicine
UMC Utrecht is a co-founder and partner of the Eureka Institute for Translational Medicine, which aims to provide education and networking for translational scientists. For the first time since COVID-19 courses could once again resume on site in 2022: two in Sicily (a certificate course for senior researchers), the Summer School in Utrecht, and the Merlion School in Singapore. The courses are highly appreciated by the participants. The Eureka Institute also welcomed a new partner, namely San Raffaele in Milan. Other Eureka Institute partners are: UMC Utrecht, Duke/ NUS, Stanford, Toronto, Miami, Arizona, United Emirates, Drexel University, Cancer Research UK, and the National Federation for Emergency Medicine.
CHARM-EU European University Alliance
UMC Utrecht participates in the CHARM-EU alliance, an innovative challenge-based university model aimed at training professionals who in the future can make a contribution to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
UMC Utrecht coordinates the Health Challenges & Solutions course within the accredited CHARM-EU master’s program ‘Global Challenges for Sustainability’, and forms an active part of the Research Hubs network within this course. Nature magazine focused on this topic in November 2022. Within these Research Hubs, students in 2022 worked together in an interdisciplinary way on the question of how the world should deal with future pandemics like the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2022, besides the universities of Barcelona, Budapest, Montpellier, Dublin and Utrecht that were already participating, three new universities joined CHARM-EU, namely Vaasa (Finland), Würzburg (Germany), and Ruhr West (Germany). And through the 2022 Erasmus+ European Universities Call, CHARM-EU received a subsidy of € 12.8 million
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ECRAID
The ECRAID (European Clinical Research Alliance on Infectious Diseases) foundation came into being on January 1, 2022 with an international supervisory board. Together with the foundation, UMC Utrecht started with the first activities to establish a sustainable, financially independent clinical research network for all of Europe in the field of infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. ECRAID ensures a coordinated approach in Europe for the efficient and development and implementation of clinical research on intervention in the field of infectious diseases.
Global Health
As UMC Utrecht, together with Utrecht University, we contribute to the improvement of health for everybody. We do this at a regional and national level, but also internationally. Through Global Health we work on research and education programs in collaboration with hospitals and knowledge institutions in low- and middle-income countries on all continents. We work on sustainable and fair solutions for complex health issues around the world. To do this, we focus on a number of topics such as the impact of environment and surroundings, chronic diseases, and mother and child care.
In 2022 we strengthened our strategy and cooperation with Anton de Kom University in Suriname, and paid a visit to Suriname . Surinamese and Dutch students and specialists in education can now do part of their training in both countries. In addition, the study on what is needed to improve health equality in the world based on fairness principles was completed in the scope of the two-year Prince Claus Chair. Thereby we were able to further structure our portfolio of research on equity and fair cooperation in healthcare, and organize the first Summer School on Global Ethics and Equity. Planetary Health and exposome research (the effect of environmental factors on health) has also become a focal point in our research and education projects. Together with partner institutions in Ghana, we are studying the effect of environmental exposure on cardiovascular health, and with the EWUU Knowledge Alliance, we are developing transdisciplinary education aimed at health challenges today and in the future.
