Strategic Programme RIVM (SPR Strategic Programme RIVM (Strategic Programme RIVM ))

RIVM's ‘Strategic Programme’ (SPR) supports the institute's strategic research and scientific innovation efforts in the field of public health, sustainability and the environment. It is driven by RIVM's own priorities from a forward-looking perspective and in anticipation of relevant public-interest assignments. SPR is rolled out in four-year programme trajectories. 
The 2023-2026 programme is supporting approximately 30 projects and has a strong focus on (developing new) methodology and processes. The previous (2019-2022) programme particularly encouraged projects that aimed to generate new insights via collaboration across scientific disciplines and organisational domains.

EVAluation of MENTal Health Policy (EVAneMENT) 

Funded under the SPR 2023-26 programme, EVAneMENT is specifically dedicated to mental health. It is to develop expertise and simulation models that can underpin population mental health policies and especially policies that support young people’s mental health. Main research questions are: What are the links between determinants, poor mental health and the incidence of mental disorders and how can these be quantified to support policy evaluations? What outcomes and integration methods work best to evaluate prevention policies in this field? More information on Strategic Programme RIVM.

From Complex Adaptive Systems towards the SImulation of actionS (CASSIS)

Also funded under the 2023-26 programme, CASSIS will generate knowledge on how to intervene in a system that causes a high level of burnout symptoms among workers. It will apply two innovative methods, both of which are based on systems thinking:  1) the Action Scales Model (ASM) to identify, together with stakeholders, systems actions to intervene in the system; and 2) System Dynamic Simulation Models (SDSM) to simulate the impact of the systems actions in a quantitative model. As such, it builds on earlier learnings from projects supported via SPR 2020-2023. More information on Strategic Programme RIVM.

Experiencing Life Events and Mental health (ELEMENTAL)

SPR also provides seed money to fund approximately ten smaller scale, one-year projects. One of  these projects, ELEMENTAL, will explore how life events and mental health status can be accurately identified in registry data. It also seeks to enrich cohort data with registry-based life events and mental health factors and aims to contribute to the wider mental health knowledge-base by analyzing the impacts of life events on mental health. Research questions also includes whether, and if so when, individuals develop mental health problems after experiencing a life event, and which (protective and risk) factors influence this relationship. 

SPR 2020-2023

The previous (2020-2023) Strategic Programme funded two projects that aimed to tackle mental health problems by applying a whole system approach in the context of work (COLLABORATE), respectively in urban settings (INCLUSIVE).

COLLABORATE sought to better understand the mechanisms underlying the high prevalence of burn-out among workers in paid employment, looking in particular at the role of organisational and societal determinants. The project also aimed to build up experience in the application of complex system thinking as a methodology to increase the body of knowledge on burn-out prevalence. See also A system science perspective on burn-out: development of an expert-based causal loop diagram | RIVM

INCLUSIVE explored and mapped the complex system of urban densification to get more insight into these dynamic multi-level processes and a better understanding of the complex relations that affect mental health, especially among low-income residents. See also Urban densification in the Netherlands and its impact on mental health: An expert-based causal loop diagram | RIVM