Dr Hilmar Bijma appointed as endowed Professor of Child-wish exploration
16 December 2024
The Executive Board of the University for Humanistic Studies has appointed Dr Hilmar Bijma as extraordinary professor of Child-wish Exploration. GGD GHOR Nederland established this special chair for the Nu Niet Zwanger programme.
As endowed professor, Bijma will stimulate and initiate research into the challenges and needs of people in vulnerable circumstances surrounding a desire to have children, the support that can/should be offered to them and the role of care providers. She will also focus on policy recommendations to help people make informed decisions about their desire to have children. Among other things, she will examine the outcomes of the GGD GHOR Nederland programme Nu Niet Zwanger, which is funded by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
Hilmar Bijma is a gynaecologist-perinatologist at the Erasmus Medical Centre, focusing on pregnancy in vulnerable situations: ‘In my work and research, I see how difficult it can be for people in vulnerable circumstances to make conscious choices about wanting children and parenthood. I look forward to contributing to more knowledge and awareness on this topic as an associate professor.’
GGD GHOR Nederland is pleased with Bijma's appointment. Ton Coenen, director GGD GHOR Nederland: ‘By conducting scientific practice-oriented research, we can further support the practice of the programme and promote quality monitoring. This is an important step in securing the programme in municipalities and institutions.’
About Hilmar Bijma
Dr Hilmar Bijma has worked as a gynaecologist-perinatologist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Erasmus MC since 2015, focusing on pregnancy in vulnerable situations. She studied medicine at the University of Groningen and the University of Amsterdam.
She obtained her PhD at Erasmus University on shared decision-making in diagnosis of congenital disorders of the (unborn) child during pregnancy and trained as a gynaecologist in the Rotterdam Gynaecologist Training Cluster. She conducts research on how knowledge on the influence of vulnerable conditions before, during and after pregnancy can be used for care innovation and societal impact.
About the chair
Vulnerable circumstances can make it difficult to make conscious choices around wanting children and parenthood. This can lead to an unwanted pregnancy or one where unfavourable factors affect the development of the (unborn) child and health of the parent.
Social workers involved with people in vulnerable circumstances have a crucial role to play in making it possible to discuss a possible child wish, so that people can take more and better control over their own child wish. Consider protecting against pregnancy through good contraceptive care and/or preparing for pregnancy through preconception care.
About the programme
Nu Niet Zwanger ('Not pregnant now') supports social workers to have an open and honest conversation with their clients about (current) child desire, sexuality and contraception. This enables people (m/f) in vulnerable circumstances to take more and better control over their own desire to have children. The teaching assignment for the coming years focuses on normalising childbearing exploration among people in vulnerable circumstances.
The Executive Board of the University for Humanistic Studies has appointed Dr Hilmar Bijma as extraordinary professor of Child-wish Exploration. GGD GHOR Nederland established this special chair for the Nu Niet Zwanger programme.