prof.dr. RA (Roland) Bal

Biography

I have background in studying the building, functioning and consequences of knowledge infrastructures for the governance of health care. I have studied such infrastructures both at (inter)national (e.g. the working of science advisory bodies), sectoral (e.g. the use of performance indicators in health care), organisational (e.g. planning & control cycles in hospitals) and shopfloor levels (e.g. the implementation and use of information technologies). Currently my main interest is in organisational infrastructures for quality and safety in health care. Projects related to this agenda are studies on the regionalisation of elderly, primary and mental healthcare. Next to this, I study the ways in which helahcare systems prpare for and respond to (climate related) disasters and pandemics.

Methodologically, I have specialised in qualitative, mainly ethnographic research methods. I have become increasingly interested in 'interventionist' or 'transcidisciplinaty' research as well as on the study of 'complex' interventions in health care and 'mixed methods' research.

I am a member of the Dutch research school of Science, Technology & Modern Culture (WTMC), the European Association for the Study of Science & Technology (EASST) as well as of the Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Centre (PDPC). I participate in the European Health Policy Group, a group of political scientists and economists studying (comparative) health policy.

I teach in several programs of the Erasmus Shool of Health Policy and Management as well as in the medical school. My teaching focusses on the organisation of healthcare systems, (supervising) quality and safety in healthcare and qualitative methods.

I currently act as a senior editor for the health policy section of the journal Social Science & Medicine. I also am a member of the editorial board of Health Economics, Policy & Law and of Health Policy.