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Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy

University Library KU Leuven, Source: KU Leuven

The Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy is part of the Department of Public Health and Primary Research of the Faculty of Medicine at KU Leuven. KU Leuven, founded in 1425, comprises the University as well as University Hospitals Leuven and the KU Leuven Research & Development tech transfer office (LRD). Currently 58,194 students are enrolled, of which 10,233 international students, and more than 7000 researchers and 5000 PhD students are working at KU Leuven.
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​It is ranked 5th in the Reuters World Ranking of Most Innovative Universities. Multiple large scale projects funded by the European Commission have been coordinated by the Institute. Halfway Horizon 2020, KU Leuven ranked 5th European University in terms of receiving funding. This demonstrates the competitiveness and international high standard of KU Leuven research and researchers. The Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy has a long tradition in studies related to understanding and optimizing the quality of healthcare. It entails six highly productive research domains: quality and patient safety, health systems and policies, health economics, law in healthcare, communication in health care and, healthcare ethics. The Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy is a designated WHO Collaborating Center on Human Resources for Health Research and Policy.

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Research Group Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology

Van den Heuvel Institute, Source: KU Leuven

The research group Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology (WOPP), is part of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, located in KU Leuven, the Europe’s most innovative university since 2016 and the World’s 24th best university (Reuters, THE). WOPP is formed by internationally renowned scholars with strong academic experience. The group focuses on work related stress, including the analysis of work related antecedents and consequences of burnout and work engagement, and has extensive experience with the analysis of quantitative data (large scale datasets), using sophisticated and innovative statistical methods. The group is embedded in strong international research networks, is involved in applied studies and advice to organizations as well, and has been involved in a multitude of national and international large scale studies on work stress, burnout and work engagement in the past. 

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Project staff

​Study Director

Prof. Walter Sermeus obtained a Bachelor in Nursing, MSc in Nursing, MSc in Biostatistics, and a PhD in Public Health. He is Full Professor and Program Director for the Master in Healthcare Management and Policy. He is head of the KU Leuven WHO CC on Human Resources for Health Research and Policy. He is board member of various Belgian and international organizations. His research interests focus on healthcare organization, clinical pathways, clinical process innovations, quality improvement, case-mix management and healthcare financing. He is Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in the UK, Royal Academy of Medicine in Belgium, American Academy of Nursing (AAN), and the European Academy of Nursing Science (EANS). Prof. Sermeus is the Magnet4Europe Project Coordinator.

Scientific Project Manager

Dr. Luk Bruyneel obtained a Bachelor in Nursing, MSc in Nursing, MSc Economic Policy, MSc in Statistics, and a PhD in Biomedical Science. He is a postdoctoral research fellow who is passionate about all aspects of hospital care that affect the delivery of safe patient care and improve patient experiences. His academic interest is in knowledge gaps that result from methodological and statistical challenges. As a staff member at University Hospitals Leuven, he works on disease-specific or hospital-wide big data patient safety research and improvement projects in collaboration with clinicians on all levels and in every corner of the organization. For his PhD (2015) he was awarded the Karolinska Medical Management Center/EHMA research award for the best contribution associated with a doctoral thesis in the field of health. Dr. Bruyneel is the Magnet4Europe Project Manager and chair of the Ethics Advisory Board.

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Prof. Hans De Witte (PhD in Psychology) is Full Professor in Work Psychology at the WOPP. His research includes the study of job stress (e.g. burnout) versus wellbeing at work (e.g. work engagement), the psychological consequences of job insecurity, unemployment, temporary employment and downsizing, and mobbing. He is invited member of the European Network of Work & Organizational Psychologists (ENOP). At the European level, he was involved in several projects funded by DG XII (5th framework), like SOCOSE, SIREN and PSYCONES. At the national level, he was involved in more than 20 large scale scientific studies, most of them leading to PhDs. 

Prof. Wilmar Schaufeli (Bachelor in Psychology, MSc in Psychology, PhD in Social and Behavioural Sciences) is Full Professor. He is distinguished research professor at KU Leuven and professor for Work & Organizational Psychology at Utrecht University (The Netherlands) and fellow of the European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology. Prof. Schaufeli initiated various large scale national and international research programs, for instance on fatigue at work (NWO) and the effectiveness of intensive care unit (EURICIS I & II). His research interests focus on occupational health psychology, including job stress, burnout, workaholism, job performance, turnover and sickness absence. Prof. Schaufeli is a world-leading expert on burnout and a Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate, 2018), ranking among the top 1% in his field.

Simon Dello obtained a Bachelor in Midwifery, Nursing and Intensive Care and Emergency Care, MSc in Nursing and Midwifery and a MSc in Healthcare Management and Policy. He gained professional experience through working in various roles (nurse, staff member) at the University Hospitals Leuven focusing on improving patient care and outcomes. Currently he is enrolled as a PhD candidate at the Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy and Project Coordinator for the Magnet4Europe project. 

​Dorothea Kohnen obtained her Bachelor in Business Psychology and her Master’s degree in Work, Organizational, and Personnel Psychology. After working as a Human Resources Expert at PwC Germany, she joined the Steinbeis-University (Germany) as a Research Fellow in 2018. At KU Leuven she is now pursuing her PhD and works as a Project Coordinator in the course of the Magnet4Europe project. Her main research focus lies on the “Impact of hospital work environment on well-being of physicians and nurses”.