People and Society

Many organisation have a staff shortage, high work pressure, and changing teams. A lot of flexibility and effort is also expected of employees. Those elements lead to a request for agile and dynamic leadership in which the wellbeing of the staff is key. This programme is focussed on the collaboration within and between organisation, agile leadership, wellbeing at work, and the impact of coaching. Through practice-oriented scientific research, we want to develop efficient tools and methodologies to collaborate in the promotion of manageable and feasible work.

In the healthcare sector, for quite some time now there is a demand for the development of online help methodologies and support in the implementation. We support organisations in the implementation, and explore the challenges and opportunities of AI applications. We have attention for increasing the digital inclusion and the development of the competences of social professionals. In this way, we want to support and strengthen online and blended care.

Today, childcare is experiencing a lot of pressure. Daycare for babies and toddlers as well as the entire out-of-school childcare are going through big reformations. Our research programme is focussed on finding innovative solutions for challenges in childcare, with the emphasis on the quality of care. From the practice-oriented research, we formulate concrete recommendations and we design tools for practice and policy. Our goal? A strong childcare of quality that gives the children a strong start!

The job of a social professional is not free of values. Social professionals want to make a difference: make injustice and discrimination public, strive for structural change, and improve society. But how can you fill in this political assignment? What position do social professionals and their organisations adopt towards this assignment? What effect does this position have on their daily practice? And in what ways do they want to and can they contribute to more social justice? This programme wants to find an answer to these questions. That is why it researches the political assignment of social professional via two approaches: policy-driven and politicising work.

A good physical and social environment are a powerful means to achieve an inclusive and uniting society. That is what we collaborate on through this research programme. We start from the needs of a perfect organisation, local government, neighbourhood, or target group(s) and strengthen those related to inclusion and connection. On the one hand, we focus on the social and physical environment, and on the other hand on the personal and social development. In this way, we build an inclusive and uniting society, in which diversity is an asset, and everybody finds their place.

Everyone deserves a world where good healthcare and wellbeing are accessible. Unfortunately good healthcare is more and more under pressure. Our research is focussed on the exploration of innovative approaches to realise accessible care and wellbeing. We have special attention for children and youths with their families on the one hand, and older people on the other hand. We focus on the encouragement of intersectional collaboration and the enhancement of relations between various levels of care and service-provision. Our goal? Contribute to the right to healthcare and wellbeing for all.

Are you an entrepreneur of an SME or a social profit organisation? Thanks to Blikopener of the Flemish Agency Entrepreneurship and Innovation (VLAIO) we can support you without any obligation in your search for solutions to practical problems or questions. We put our practice-oriented research results and experts at your disposal. Do you have a question or would you like to collaborate?