Making Circular Healthcare Work
Hi there, welcome! I’m Heidi Annala and I study the social science of changing hospital work towards circular economy. It’s great to have you here.
Human stories on material issues
I created this web page to share about my work in a way that is deeper than a LinkedIn post, yet more accessible than academic publications. I write about environmental sociology of organizations, the practical aspects of changing practices for the greener, and my experiences of doing research towards a PhD in the Netherlands.
All of these topics can be found in the blog, which I update regularly. For the more formal project descriptions, see my portfolio page. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, or would like more information on any of the topics I work on, please do reach out e.g. here.
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I earned my Bachelor’s in Biology and Master’s in Sustainability Science at the University of Helsinki. What started as affection for the natural world developed into understanding of socio-ecological systems, and a passion to find levers of change within them.
After my Master’s I worked two ears in healthcare consulting, co-creating organizational change.
Now, I bring these worlds together to align healthcare with the planetary boundaries.
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I began my PhD research at Wageningen University and Research in 2024.
My supervisors are the fantastic
environmental sociologist Bas van Vliet, environmental governance scholar Judith van Leeuwen and one of the fathers of “Ecological modernization”, Arthur Mol.Theoretically, I draw on social practice theory and the systems of provision approach to explore the social-material dynamics of hospital life.
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My PhD project is a part of a broad, Dutch consortium project called “Evidence-based Strategies to Create Circular Hospitals: Applying the 10 R’s Framework to Healthcare”, or ESCH-R for short. You can find more information about us at https://esch-r.org/