Barbara Groot-Sluijsmans

Barbara Groot-Sluijsmans holds dual academic appointments:

• Professor by special appointment of Participatory Research for Health and Well-being at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS)
• Assistant Professor in the Health Sciences programme at Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam

She earned her Master's degree in Applied Communication Sciences in 2004. Her career began as a health promoter at GGD Amsterdam, followed by roles in rehabilitation and corporate qualitative market research for a decade before returning to academia to focus on community-centered health research.

Her research centers on promoting health, well-being, and resilience for vulnerable populations through participatory methodologies. She specializes in arts-based action research, transdisciplinary team science, and co-creation frameworks that prioritize ethical engagement and quality. Her work actively involves marginalized communities in Amsterdam city districts to address locally relevant health themes while critically examining participatory research challenges.

She maintains significant professional affiliations:

• Ethics Working Group, International Collaboration of Participatory Health Research (ICPHR)
• Citizen Science NL (CS NL)
• Steering Committee, Arts & Health Netherlands
• Advisory Board, Citizen Science / Societal Engagement (NWO)
• Senior Programme Council Member, Methodology Programme, Amsterdam Public Health Institute (APH)

As a core member of AUAS's Participatory Research for Health and Well-being group, she develops transdisciplinary approaches that integrate community voices into health research design and implementation, emphasizing creativity and ethical rigor in co-creative processes.