An international committee, chaired by Professor Peter Smith (Imperial College), has concluded that Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM) performs excellent academic research. The committee awarded ESHPM the highest possible score on all the evaluation criteria. The committee was particularly impressed by the multidisciplinary nature and societal impact of the research performed by ESHPM.
The audit by the committee took place at the end of 2020, in the framework of the research accreditation. The committee spoke to many representatives of researchers, support staff, alumni and social partners of ESHPM. Based on these conversations and the internal evaluation report, the committee assessed ESHPM on the quality of its research, the societal relevance of its research and the vitality of the organisation. The committee recently delivered its report, which revealed that ESHPM had been awarded the maximum score for all the criteria.
Dr Pieter van Baal, research director of ESHPM, is extremely proud of this assessment. ‘It underlines the constant high level of our academic work.’ In its last research audit, when ESHPM was still assessed as part of the Netherlands Institute for Health Sciences (NIHES), ESHPM had also received an ‘excellent’ assessment. ‘This is therefore a wonderful compliment for everyone at ESHPM,’ says Van Baal.
The committee's report also compliments the fact that ESHPM is truly multidisciplinary - not only in education but also demonstrably in research. Professor Werner Brouwer, dean of ESHPM, describes this excellent assessment as ‘a wonderful acknowledgement of the academic and socially very relevant and multidisciplinary research that is performed at ESHPM, particularly now’. The committee also explicitly praises the societal relevance of the scientific work at ESHPM. Â