Roland Bal

Prof. Roland Bal is a Full Professor at the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (Erasmus MC), specializing in healthcare governance and knowledge infrastructures. His research focuses on organizational and policy dimensions of healthcare quality, safety, and resilience, with notable work on pandemic governance, disaster preparedness, and healthcare regionalization. He holds affiliations with the Dutch research school of Science, Technology & Modern Culture and the European Health Policy Group. Methodologically, he employs ethnographic and mixed methods research. Key projects include studies on healthcare resilience during floods, medicine quality in Indonesia, and regulatory frameworks for long-term care. Bal teaches in health policy programs and coordinates courses on quality in healthcare systems.

His research explores how knowledge infrastructures influence healthcare governance at national, sectoral, and organizational levels. Current priorities include regionalization of elderly/mental healthcare and task differentiation in nursing. He actively participates in interdisciplinary projects, such as a 5-year flood resilience initiative and STARmeds study on stakeholder engagement in medicine quality research. Bal emphasizes interventionist research approaches and the translation of evidence into practice.

His recent articles highlight themes like crisis governance during floods and pandemics, healthcare preparedness, and policy experiments addressing value conflicts. Bal collaborates internationally, with studies in Indonesia, Jordan, and Cameroon. He advocates for inclusive healthcare systems aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in quality healthcare access and resilient health systems.