Structure
The AWVB partners are represented in a steering committee and a coordinating working group.
The steering committee consists of board members of the care organisations, the manager and director affiliated with the Dutch national advocacy organisation for people with intellectual disabilities (LFB), the department chair of Tranzo, and the professor holding the chair for People with an Intellectual Disability: Psychopathology and treatment. Together, they decide the strategic direction of the AWVB.
The coordinating working group consists of members responsible for knowledge policy at each of the care organisations and an LFB representative. The members of the working group ensure a connection between academia and practice, and coordinate knowledge policy at the management level. They serve as a linking pin between the board members of their organisation (who are member of the steering committee) and the researchers, who have been assigned to the AWVB by their respective organisations. Additionally, each member of the coordinating working group serves as a way of connecting their own care organisation, where they raise questions and facilitate data collection, to the AWVB.
In addition to the ongoing collaboration between the partners of the AWVB, we work together with training institutes such as RINO Zuid, universities of applied sciences, and regional educational centres for vocational training to ensure new research findings are integrated into education. All collaboration is associated with Professor Petri Embregts’s chair.
The AWVB is also part of the Association of Academic Collaborative Centers for Intellectual Disabilities (in Dutch: Associatie van Academische Werkplaatsen Verstandelijke Beperkingen). In this association, eight Dutch academic collaborative centers work together to improve the quality of care and support for people with disabilities in long-term care and help strengthen their position in society. Together, they promote a national and dynamic infrastructure for generating, sharing, and applying knowledge in the Netherlands.