Lisanne van Prooyen Schuurman
Position: Project manager INDICATE
Who am I & what do I do?
My name is Lisanne van Prooyen Schuurman. I started my career as a PhD student at Erasmus MC and later transitioned to the Datahub, where I currently work as Operations Manager. In addition to this role, I serve as Project Manager for INDICATE. I also lead the coordination of other grant applications that are written or supported by the Datahub.
What am I up to during INDICATE?
I am the Project Manager of INDICATE. My main responsibility is to oversee the day-to-day coordination of the project, ensuring that timelines are met and deliverables are completed on time and at the right quality. I act as the central point of contact for consortium members, answering their questions or connecting them with the appropriate person within the project. I also handle communication with the European Commission (EC), monitor compliance with EC obligations, and ensure all required reporting and documentation is organized and submitted accordingly. In this role, I support the project’s Principal Investigators Michel van Genderen and Christian Jung in fulfilling their responsibilities under the grant agreement, and I work closely with Jan van den Brand, the project’s Technical Lead, who manages the project’s content.
What motivates me to be part of INDICATE?
As a researcher, I have personally experienced how crucial data availability is for conducting meaningful research, but also how challenging it can be to access data, especially across hospital boundaries. At the same time, I see a constant wave of new technical innovations and tools that could truly improve healthcare, but whose potential remains untapped due to data inaccessibility. I see INDICATE as a unique opportunity to take a first step in changing this. Starting with the ICU (a critical domain in light of aging populations and potential future pandemics) I believe this project lays the foundation for a larger, scalable data infrastructure that can unlock the value of health data across Europe.
What do I expect to accomplish within INDICATE?
Personally, I hope to successfully guide the project toward a strong and impactful result, where cross-border data is made accessible to various end users: researchers, clinicians, nurses, start-ups, governments, and more. I want to ensure every consortium partner feels heard and involved, and to serve as the “spider in the web” connecting all the fantastic 150 members from 30 different institutions who are contributing to this effort. I am confident that with this incredible team, we will have a fully functional infrastructure by 2028, complete with the governance mechanisms required to continue growing and evolving beyond the project’s end.
How does my background or expertise contribute to the goals of INDICATE?
With a background in econometrics, I’m comfortable working with data and analytics. Combined with my hands-on research experience in a hospital setting, this gives me a solid understanding of both the necessity and complexity of the INDICATE project. It allows me to engage with the content, contribute to discussions, and grasp the broader context. In my role as Project Manager, this helps me ask the right questions and make meaningful connections across the six work packages. This is something I see as essential for navigating the interdependencies in such a large and multidisciplinary project.
