Dr Simone de Bruin
Dr Simone de Bruin is professor of Living well with Dementia. She specializes in research on elderly care and dementia care.
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Research focus
Dr Simone de Bruin works on innovations that contribute to living well with dementia. Her research explores care farms and other forms of green adult day services, where nature, everyday routines, and meaningful engagement are central. She also focuses on topics such as more nuanced portrayals of dementia and fostering collaboration in dementia care and support. Through her professorship, Simone aims to bridge the gap between practice, education, and research to foster sustainable innovations in dementia care and support.
Collaboration
Simone works closely with citizens, health and social care professionals, students, and lecturers. She has extensive experience coordinating multidisciplinary research consortia (e.g. Enable-dem) and is one of the coordinators of the Dutch network of professors on dementia (PRODEM). She also represents universities of applied sciences on Mission Team IV (“improving quality of life for people with dementia”) of Health Holland.
In addition to project-based collaboration with these partners, Simone ensures that the research group receives ongoing advice from two advisory boards: one composed of people living with dementia and their families, and another consisting of professionals from practice, education, policy, and society. These boards provide reflection on research themes, current issues, and the translation of research findings into practice and education.
Research Experience
After completing her studies, Simone worked as a researcher at TNO Quality of Life in Leiden. From 2005 to 2009, she conducted her PhD research at Wageningen University & Research on adult day services at care farms as an innovative form of care for people with dementia.
Following this, she worked until 2020 as a senior researcher at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and as a guest researcher at Wageningen University & Research. In these roles, she was involved in various projects related to elderly care and dementia care.