It started with the now Dutch Famine Study, in which Roseboom followed a group of people, born in the Hunger Winter of 1944/1945, to this day. "The more I learned about it," says Roseboom, "the more I thought: if we all know this, how is it possible that so little is done with that knowledge? When I became a professor, I thought about my role: is that gathering even more knowledge or do I also have a responsibility in translating that knowledge to do something with it?" This role falls under the term 'valorisation', creating social added value.
Watch the video below about the Hunger Winter Research and the importance of its knowledge for the present
Not to make money
Roseboom presented the first copy of her book about the importance of 'the first 1,000 days' of a person's life to the then Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, Hugo de Jonge. The minister then asked her to think about the policy. "There is a lot of hunger for knowledge among policymakers," says Roseboom. "As scientists, we can play an important role in this. That's why I think valorisation is so important: not to make more money with it, but to be of value to society from a scientific point of view." Roseboom is therefore on the board of the Amsterdam UMC Valorisation Board, which aims to import 'making a social impact' into Amsterdam UMC's DNA.
Promising start
The contact with the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport resulted in the Promising Start programme, which invests 23 million euros annually in the first 1,000 days of children, for example with the Healthy Pregnancy programme. The money will mainly go to local 'coalitions' in every municipality in the Netherlands. Professionals from the medical and social domains work together in this. "I am very enthusiastic about what is happening there," says Roseboom, who is an ambassador for the program. "Over the past 6 years, I have been to all local coalitions in the Netherlands. It is very nice to hear what solutions are found once they know that those first 1,000 days are so important."
The Promising Start programme is a good example of how science can contribute to the public debate and the public interest. "When it comes to valorisation, people often think of spin-off companies and patents. As far as I'm concerned, it's mainly about: being of value to the patients of today and tomorrow, and to society, based on the science."