Health-life problems arise from the fact that the health of human beings is inextricably linked to other life forms on this planet and to the environment in which we live. Increasingly, critical threats to health arise from man-induced changes in the environment. We refer to such challenges as ‘health-life’ challenges: public policy problems where (public) health policies and environmental, agricultural policies and life science collide and intertwine. Key examples of health-life problems are nano-plastics in food and cosmetics, which end up in our drinking water, use of antibiotics in agriculture which contribute to antibiotic resistance, and air pollution that results in asthma and increased morbidity.

Regulation is a key cause of the health-life challenges we are facing, but is also central to their solution. Health-life problems are the intended or, more often, unintended result of regulatory choices at national, European or international level. Current regulatory approaches have subdivided interrelated problems and assign them to different regulatory regimes and agents in such fields as energy, industry, agriculture, transport, and land use planning. This undermines the effectiveness of responses. Regulatory innovation may help these limitations and may more effectively address health-life problems, for instance by articulating more integrated approaches, combining command and control regulation with consumer information and financial incentives, and regulation across levels of governance.

In this NWA matchmaking meeting we invite partners and colleagues across the knowledge chain, to join us in seeking to formulate the questions and the expertise that can transform current regulatory approaches, and to find innovative and integrative regulatory approaches at local, national, European and international level that address health-life threats. We aim to identify promising research initiatives and to connect them with a view to develop a research network for the upcoming NWA call and for other opportunities and activities. 

From the Amsterdam Law School, Laurens Ankersmit, Johan Legemaate, Andre Nollkaemper, Anniek de Ruijter and  Maria Weimer will participate in the event. We invite other interested researchers to present their ideas.

We invite interested researchers and societal partners to submit and present their ideas.

Registration

If you are interested to participate, please register before 20 November by this link in the form. You can indicate:

• a brief indication of your field of expertise, and./or a particular research proposal that you consider relevant for the theme of the event. This information will allow us to cluster groups at the meeting.
• Your interest to present a short pitch (maximum 2 minutes) on your idea for research relating to the theme, or on your expertise that may help to form and implement a research agenda.
• Your consent to share your information with other participants.

For more information or questions please contact Anniek de Ruijter at a.deruijter@uva.nl.