Thijs van den Broek

Associate Professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam

Netherlands

About

Thijs van den Broek is associate professor at the Socio-Medical Sciences research group of the Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management. His research focuses on wellbeing, health and (informal and formal) care use, in particular of older people and migrants. As a scholar, he aims to contribute to diminishing health inequalities by doing rigorous research that provides insights that policymakers and practitioners can build on to develop equitable policies and interventions. He holds a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship for a project on health and wellbeing of Turkish migrants in Europe. Previously, he received research funding from the Economic Social Research Council (ESRC, UK) and Erasmus Trustfonds. In 2021, he was awarded the Frans Rutten Research Prize for most promising early career researcher at ESHPM. His work has been published in leading journals, such as Journals of Gerontology, Series: B; Social Science & Medicine; and Demography. Academically, Thijs is a bit of a late bloomer. Rather than focusing on studying while in his 20s, he played underground stages all over Europe with several indie bands and scored a minor radio hit in Norway. In his early 30s, he signed up for the evening MSc programme in Sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He finished the programme with Cum Laude honours, and for his Master thesis he won the Joep Munnichs Prize from the Netherlands Society for Gerontology. Following his PhD in Sociology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, he worked as a postdoc at the London School of Economics. He also had stints as a visiting researcher at the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) and the German Centre for Gerontology (DZA). He serves as associate editor for the journal Demographic Research, and as management committee member in the COST Action TraFaDy, an international research network on transnational families with 130+ members from 29 countries. The societal impact of his work is illustrated by contributions to advisory reports commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER), and by coverage of his research in mainstream media (Volkskrant, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, LSE IQ podcast, BNR Radio). At ESHPM, Thijs served as member of the ESHPM Faculty Council and Programme Committee. Currently, he is a member of the school's Research Ethic Review Committee. He also coordinates the elective minor course Public Health, and supervises master's theses.

Experience

  • Erasmus University Rotterdam (Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands)
    • Associate Professor
      Jan 2026 - Present · 6 mos

      Associate professor Socio-Medical Sciences, Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management

    • Assistant Professor
      Feb 2019 - Dec 2025 · 6 yrs 11 mos

      Assistant professor Socio-Medical Sciences, Erasmus School of Health Policy and Management

  • Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (6 yrs 10 mos)
    • Member Research Ethics Review Committee
      Mar 2021 - Present · 5 yrs 4 mos

    • Lid faculteitsraad
      Sep 2019 - Aug 2021 · 2 yrs

      Lid ESHPM Council, portefeuillehouder onderzoek

    • Lid opleidingscommissie ESHPM
      Sep 2019 - Aug 2021 · 2 yrs

  • Associate Editor at Demographic Research
    Apr 2022 - Present · 4 yrs 3 mos

    www.demographic-research.org DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal of population sciences published by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany. DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH aims to: - publish top-quality research and related material from the full range of disciplines that bear on demography, including the social sciences, the life sciences, mathematics and statistics, policy research, and research on the discipline itself; - encourage the development of an international community concerned with DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH, including researchers, teachers, students, data producers, and users of demographic knowledge in government, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector; - harness the potential of the internet. Articles may include data files, computer programs, and other supporting material, as well as links to other resources; and - promote the replicability of population-related research, by encouraging and recognizing contributions that allow reproduction of results through sharing of data and code

  • The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (3 yrs 2 mos)
    • Research Fellow
      Jun 2017 - Jan 2019 · 1 yr 8 mos

    • Research Officer
      Dec 2015 - May 2017 · 1 yr 6 mos

  • Substitute Management Committee member representing the Netherlands at COST Action IS1311: INTERFASOL
    Dec 2013 - Apr 2018 · 4 yrs 5 mos