Scientific Quality Committee
The Scientific Quality Committee (SQC) consists of senior researchers from the eight research programs of APH and are appointed at either VU, VUmc or AMC. The main task of the SQC is to advise the Board of Directors of the Amsterdam Public Health research institute (APH) on their scientific quality policy, and to support the quality of research within APH.
| Committee members | |
|---|---|
| Astrid de Wind | Yuri Milaneschi |
| Joske Nauta | Hans Knoop |
| Mariska Bot | Mirjam Geerlings |
| Wouter van Ballegooijen | Joeri Tijdink |
Secretaris SQC: Moira Goeman
Contact: aph.sqc@amsterdamumc.nl
APH Quality Handbook
The APH Quality Handbook provides for APH's commitment to promote continuous improvement in research quality and to encourage good scientific conduct throughout all phases of research. With the intention of setting a standard, structuring information and making information accessible for all researchers, the Research Lifecycle is used to navigate the researcher through the Handbook. The Research Lifecycle represents all activities typically involved in a research project, and may be scientific or administrative in nature, or both.
Research Quality visits
Promoting ongoing improvement in research quality is one of the primary goals of Amsterdam Public Health (APH) research institute. Opening up research practices in ongoing research projects to colleagues within the research institute foster a research culture of transparency, trust, mutual support, and continuous improvement. A tool developed by the APH Scientific Quality Committee (SQC), to foster the quality of APH research projects, is the Research Quality (RQ) visit.
The RQ visit is a peer-led procedure that can take place at any point during the research life cycle of an APH research project. The additional peer feedback provided with the RQ visit is of added value, since for most research projects peer feedback occurs only at the proposal and reporting phase. With these RQ visits, the APH SQC provides the possibility for peer feedback across all three phases of the research life cycle, complementing other systems in which research is embedded, relating to compliance, training, and supervision. The RQ visit will result in a report that summarizes the feedback given on the topics as discussed. This report can provide APH researchers with further insights of the concerning issue and contact with other APH researchers with relevant expertise.
Value of the RQ visit
The RQ visits can increase research quality along the research life cycle. The visits can detect barriers for practicing good quality research and provides expert-level recommendations. The visit can also inform APH researchers whether their research project is on the right track. The RQ visits also collect best practices that can be shared with other APH esearchers and lead to recommendations at a strategic level for research institutes and research boards. More detailed information about the RQ visit can be found in the document below.
Are you interested in receiving peer feedback on your research project? Sign-up for a Research Quality visit through this RQ visit registration form.
For questions, send an email to the project leader Moira Goeman via aph.sqc@amsterdamumc.nl
Embedding research projects
Previously, research projects carried out within APH embedded themselves to a research program via the Scientific Quality Committee and were judged by suitability and relevance to the specified research program. As of November 2024, the process of embedding research projects within APH research programs is no longer in effect. For more questions regarding the stop of this process, please contact the Scientific Quality Committee via aph.sqc@amsterdamumc.nl.