PhD Design of circular concepts in eye surgery and kidney care

The healthcare sector is responsible for 7% of the total Dutch ecological footprint. According to the Green Deal 3.0 , this footprint must be reduced significantly within the next six years. ESCH-R is an interdisciplinary science project funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWA-OCR) as part of the Dutch Research Agenda to create a more sustainable healthcare sector. The acronym ESCH-R stands for ‘Evidence-based Strategies to create Circular Hospitals: Applying the 10-Rs framework to healthcare’.

Within a consortium of academic institutions, we will apply a systemic and transdisciplinary approach and collaborate throughout the whole hospital ecosystem (from suppliers to hospitals, healthcare professional, patients, and waste management). We will develop strategies towards circular practices for the most impactful medical consumables used in two clinical departments. We aim to remove current barriers, adopt newly developed interventions, and facilitate a behavioral change of healthcare professionals towards a circular way of working.

In this PhD-project, two clinical cases will be investigated with the objective of a structural reduction in waste and carbon footprint. All aspects of the relevant consumables, from LCA, design, production, usage, to disposal will be targeted. The two cases are eye surgery and kidney care.

Cataract surgery is the most common surgical procedure nationally and internationally, with approximately 180 000 procedures per year in the Netherlands. It is a highly standardized procedure, using similar instruments and techniques. Infection is the most feared complication and this risk has been a major driver for the increasing use of disposables. Together with experts from DORC, a world-leading company in eye surgery equipment, you will develop new circular concepts.

Kidney care, in particular dialysis, has a disproportionately high ecologic footprint within healthcare through greenhouse emissions, natural resources depletion and waste generation. Dialysis is 18 times more resource intensive than the general healthcare emissions burden of a typical patient. A typical haemodialysis session uses ~400L of tap water and ~20 kWh per patient  and produces several kgs of waste. Thus, there is an urgent need to drastically lower the footprint of dialysis. You will work on the (co-)development of sustainable technological innovations for dialysis and the implementation of innovative green solutions into the new dialysis unit at UMC Utrecht.

Also see Home - ESCH-R Consortium

This PhD project is based at the UMC Utrecht, with direct supervision from the departments of Ophthalmology (dr R van Leeuwen) and Nephrology (dr K Gerritsen). In addition, you will be supervised by prof JC Diehl from the department of Industrial Design and Engineering of TU Delft. The R&D departments of the industrial partners DORC and Medtronic and several SMEs are also closely involved. In the UMC Utrecht, a Living Lab for the operating room and an advanced Dialysis Innovation Lab have been established, in which new ideas can be developed and tested.

You will be member of the ESCH-R community, a highly motivated group of researchers and students, committed to a more sustainable healthcare. You will participate in regular meetings with the other 7 PhD students and with the academic and industrial partners of the ESCH-R consortium.

• You have an MSc degree in Technical Medicine, Clinical Technology, Industrial Design and Engineering, or a related study.
• You have skills and experience with studying medical products and technologies.
• You have affinity with sustainability and social impact
• Knowledge and experience with sustainability assessments (e.g., life cycle assessment) and/or operational research (e.g., mathematical optimization) is a strong plus.
• You are able to think in and work with multidisciplinary research approaches.
• You have affinity with working as a team player, proactive in your work, involved actively in your working environment and capable of independently addressing and solving research problems.
• You are willing to supervise students from partner universities
• For this position your command of the English language is expected to be at C1 level. Sometimes it is necessary to submit an internationally recognized Certificate of Proficiency in the English Language.

For any questions, please contact Redmer van Leeuwen at [email protected] or 088 755 1683. During his absence from October 5th to 27th, please reach out to Karin Gerritsen at [email protected] or 088 75 74936.

• A salary between € 3017,- and € 3824,- gross per month (salary scale OIO's), based on full-time employment (36 hours). 
• Year-end bonus of 8.3% and holiday allowance of 8%. 
• Pension insurance with ABP. We take care of approximately 70% of the monthly contribution. 
• 100% public transport reimbursement. Are you coming on foot, by bike or by car? You will then receive a reimbursement of € 0.18 per km (by car up to a max. of 40 km one way). 
• Possibilities to develop yourself personally and professionally. 
• The option to select additional employment benefits in exchange for gross salary, such as purchasing a bicycle and memberships.