Researcher in the Spotlight: Robert Borst PhD

At which of the RGHI institutes are you working and how long have you been there?

'I have been embedded at ESHPM since the previous shade of purple. Actually, it was still iBMG back when I started in 2016.'

What is your research focused on? 

'My research revolves around the "polders" of knowledge translation, the sometimes informal, potentially ‘backstage’, networks and alliances that inform health policy and governance – including with scientific knowledge. I currently apply this lens to projects on flood disaster preparedness in healthcare (with the Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Center) and crisis governance and health systems resilience in the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Interestingly, I do not necessarily see myself as a "crises" or "disasters" person.'

You recently started the Caribbean Health Policy & Governance network, could you tell us more about this?

'Several years ago, a former epidemiology student within the WeConnect network reached out to me. They were working as a trainee at Fundashon Mariadal – the hospital foundation on Bonaire – and wanted to do research into healthcare quality improvement. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I had weekly calls with the chair of the board of directors of the hospital. Fast forward to 2024, and I now annually supervise between three and five MSc students who work on topics at the heart of the health system in the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and collaborate on research with a majority of health organisations throughout the region. I find the region incredibly inspiring: the things that directors, managers, and professionals in domains like public healthcare, long-term care, primary care, and hospital care get done, despite constrains that come with the small-island setting, are truly humbling. At the same time, the challenges are significant – in terms of burden of disease, grave poverty, and hardship in organising and governing health systems on such scales (anywhere between 2,000 and 160,000 inhabitants). With the Caribbean Health Policy & Governance network, I wanted to build a knowledge translation platform – I see it as a way to facilitate and expand the interface between research into health policy and governance (at our Faculty and beyond) and health system actors in the Dutch Caribbean. What are the types of knowledge they would want us to produce and how can we support them? But at the same time, being able to offer critical co-produced advice on key matters and offering capacity building sessions where necessary.'

What drew you to Global Health? 

'A series of events, I think. Coincidence perhaps. It wasn’t necessarily Global Health (with capitalized G and H) that attracted me. When I started my master’s at the VU University, the programme on international public health was the only one in which social theory, business administration, and ethnographic research methods were taught. Coming from applied sciences in healthcare, those fields really fascinated me, plus they felt very ‘academic’… Through a spin-off of my job as teaching assistant, I ended up lecturing in epidemiology and biostatistics. When I was invited for field epidemiology in Uganda, that felt very logical: I reasoned that it would be dishonest to lecture about epidemiology without properly having done epi fieldwork myself.'

What are your main ambitions for the future?

'That the CHPG network becomes a game-changer in connecting research, health policy, governance, and practice in the Caribbean region. It are small islands, with big problems; which deserve to be treated as such.' 

Do you have a paper/TED Talk/Podcast that you enjoy and would recommend us to listen to?

'Are books deliberately not included in the question? I really appreciate novels in which the story revolves around an anti-heroic character who rather cynically reflects on their own – often completely mundane – life choices. Think of Tipp Marug’s ‘De morgen loeit weer aan’ – I think there is an English translation. The book revolves around a first-person narrative of an – to the reader – unknown Curaçaoan man who lives a rather sequestered life in his kunuku, or countryside. The story is confined to merely one day, but from the first page onwards, the life reflections and vivid philosophical observations of the book’s character grab you by your throat. This is a binge-worthy book.'

Will you be presenting/talking at any conferences/seminars in the coming months?

'I have been on a presentation-streak in the past weeks, mostly about health systems resilience and crisis governance. Directly after the summer break, I will be on Bonaire with colleague Bert de Graaff to present the results of an ongoing study into disaster and crisis preparedness and health systems resilience in the Caribbean Netherlands. Later this year, I will be presenting about the ‘dark sides’ of health systems resilience at EASST/4S in Amsterdam and about what it takes to perform health systems resilience in practice at the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Nagasaki, Japan.'