NWO honors research project on loneliness among people with mild intellectual disabilities

14 December 2023

People with mild intellectual disabilities experience more loneliness than people without it. NWO honored a project application in which researchers from the social sciences and humanities work together with people with mild intellectual disabilities and their (in)formal networks. They are developing an (online) learning community that aims to understand and reduce loneliness among people with mild intellectual disabilities. Gustaaf Bos and Joanna Wojtkowiak of the University of Humanistic Studies are co-applicants for the project called COLLELO.

The acronym COLLELO stands for COLlaborative LEarning from LOneliness. A transdisciplinary approach to understand and reduce loneliness together with people with mild intellectual disabilities. Main applicant is Paul van Trigt of Leiden University. In the project COLLELO, the University for Humanistic Studies works together with Leiden University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, PthU, Windesheim University of Applied Sciences and other knowledge partners such as LFB, Movisie, Vilans and care institutions. An important part of the project is that all partners will jointly set up a learning community around this major social problem of loneliness and share knowledge among themselves.

UvH researcher Gustaaf Bos is closely involved in shaping this learning community. He also collaborates in a subproject with the PThU, they focus on the experiences of loneliness of persons with mild intellectual disabilities in different living/working/care situations. PThU and UvH are jointly preparing a vacancy for a PhD student for this project. Joanna Wojtkowiak will work in a subproject with Windesheim University of Applied Sciences on online and offline initiatives that can contribute to community building among young people with mild intellectual disabilities. The researchers aim to start the project before the summer of 2024.

COLLELO has been honored within the NWA research programme Loneliness, part of the action programme Eén tegen eenzaamheid. This is an initiative of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to reduce loneliness in the Netherlands. Main applicant is Dr. P. van Trigt. Co-applicants: Dr. H.R. Boeije, Prof. Dr. P. Nikken, Dr. J. Wojtkowiak, Dr. G. Bos, Prof. Dr. T. Tromp, Prof. Dr. H. van de Bovenkamp, Dr. C. Harnacke and Dr. T. Bouwman.

People with mild intellectual disabilities experience more loneliness than people without it. NWO honored the project application COLLELO in which researchers from the social sciences and humanities work together with people with mild intellectual disabilities and their (in)formal networks.