Principal investigators/Project leaders

The grant application was initiated by CCE in collaboration with researchers from the VUmc Department of Medical Humanities and the University of Humanistic Studies.  

Gustaaf Bos PhD (UvH)

Between 2016 en 2020 Gustaaf Bos PhD was lecturer and researcher at the VUmc Department of Medical Humanities,  (chair Participation and & Diversity), and the Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute. He obtained his PhD in 2016 with a thesis on encounters between people with and without severe intellectual disabilities in reversed integration settings. His dissertation was nominated for the Rev. Visscher Prize in 2018.

Since April 2020, he works as researcher and lecturer at the Care Ethics department of the University for Humanistic Studies.
In recent years, he is involved in collaborative research into ways of creating more space for personal exchange and connectedness between different parties involved in care, in order to increase the quality of life of people with severe intellectual disabilities. Gustaaf is part of the research platform on Disability Studies, Inclusion & Belonging, and the International Collaboration for Participatory Health Research.

Vanessa Olivier-Pijpers PhD (CCE)

Vanessa Olivier-Pijpers PhD works at CCE as a science practitioner and project leader. Since 1 January 2021 she has been project leader and researcher at WAVE together with Gustaaf Bos PhD.

She graduated in behavioural therapy/psychology at Leiden University and has a degree in Policy and Management in Healthcare from the Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management at Rotterdam Erasmus University. For almost 20 years now she has been working primarily in care for people with intellectual disabilities who display challenging behaviour.

In 2020 she completed her PhD with a study of the influence of organisational environment on challenging behaviour in residents with intellectual disabilities. In the same year, the book ‘Bewegen bij probleemgedrag’ (‘Creating Movement around Challenging Behaviour’) was published, which she co-authored. In 2016 she was one of the authors of ‘Signaleringsplan, zegen of vloek?’ (‘Plans for signalling challenging behaviours: Blessing or Curse?’)

Klaartje Klaver PhD

Until 1 January 2021, Klaartje Klaver PhD was project leader and researcher at WAVE together with Gustaaf Bos PhD. At that time, Klaartje worked for CCE where she did research and supported research into challenging behaviour. She currently works as a behavioural therapist at Esdégé-Reigersdaal.