From Spark to UCo: the ‘Clean future: Wellbeing in “dirty work”’ project

At the kick-off meeting of the Clean Future: Wellbeing in “dirty work” project, Caspar spoke with the team about their transition from Spark to UCo.

How are you experiencing the start of the UCo? Are you excited?
Yes, it is really nice because we already have a very nice collaboration through the Spark grant. So we’re mostly just really excited to extend this collaboration! Overall, we were all really excited to hear that we got the grant, and we just really like working in this multidisciplinary team with an unusual mix of expertise. 

Do you feel the Spark prepared you for the UCo? 
I definitely think so. It did help us develop the idea in general terms. But also helped in getting to know each other, the ways in which we do research, and the different ‘languages’ that we use.

Does this mean you have already reached a shared understanding?
No, but we are working on this! Sometimes we do have these moments of understanding. It is nice that this project is also unusual in this way. We also noticed during the spark grant that we are all very committed. We were the last ones to come out of the lottery, which was really nerve wrecking, so we were sweating quite a bit. But we are really happy to have received this grant. 

What do you hope to achieve in this rather short year?
We were just discussing this. We were planning a few exploratory studies, just as a team but also in collaboration with research assistants and (Master) students. We have quite a lot of ideas already!

What are your aims beyond just this year?
We already have a clear vision of what the topic is that we want to address. We have the ambition of reducing health inequalities by getting a better understanding of the notion of wellbeing specifically in employees engaging in “dirty work”. It is a really interesting and challenging context in which we operate. Our overall ambition is obviously not something we can entirely address in a year, but we can do a small part of it. Within this year we would like to form a foundation on which we can continue the work, so that we are also less dependent on, for example, future lotteries.