Mission and vision

The AWVB aims to help improve the quality of life, care, and support for people with intellectual disabilities to help strengthen their position in society. ‘We do this by conducting scientific research together with our partners, but also by making our research findings useful and applicable to practice. We generate and communicate research about people with intellectual disabilities in response to questions they themselves, their families, and healthcare professionals have,’ says Professor Petri Embregts, the head of the AWVB.

‘We believe that scientific knowledge, professional knowledge, and experiential knowledge are equal to each other,’ explains Petri Embregts. ‘That’s why the AWVB co-creates research with people with intellectual disabilities, their families, and healthcare professionals. It’s important that relevant information from current research findings becomes embedded in practice – in training and teaching, in professional support, and in the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.’

Guiding principles

Connection

The AWVB approaches research from a care ethics perspective, believing that connecting with people with intellectual disabilities and their families from a place of personal involvement and empathy is a prerequisite for professionalism. The quality of care and support in its most essential form is understood to occur within a meaningful relationship between the person with an intellectual disability, their family, and the healthcare professionals that support them.

Three equal sources of knowledge
Our approach is grounded in the belief that the experiential knowledge of people with intellectual disabilities and their families, the professional knowledge of healthcare professionals, and the scientific knowledge of researchers are equal sources of information. Therefore, the AWVB refers to all three sources in every part of its research development.

Co-creation
The AWVB strives to successfully generate and share knowledge through co-creation, bringing together the knowledge of people with intellectual disabilities, their families, healthcare professionals, and researchers.

Knowledge generation and sharing
The AWVB conducts scientific research and disseminates the resulting findings in accessible ways for individuals with intellectual disabilities, their families, and healthcare professionals. In this way, the AWVB facilitates the implementation of new knowledge in practice and contributes to meaningful knowledge transfer and mutual inspiration.