Empowering professionals for emerging challenges

The nature of professional work is changing quite drastically. Researchers at Utrecht University working together in the focus area Professional Performance are examining the implications of these changes in order to better equip professionals and enable them to deal more effectively with changing contexts. These researchers come from various academic disciplines such as organisational science, psychology, social sciences, law, economics, health sciences, humanities and (veterinary) medicine. In this position paper we highlight why it is essential to establish a multidisciplinary research space like this, whom this is relevant to, and what needs to be studied. We highlight the essential questions driving our academic curiosity, as well as our ambition to contribute with practical interventions and solutions for professionals. We aim to generate a debate between various stakeholders (e.g. professionals and their organisations, politicians, academics and service recipients), to challenge professionals in the field, to fuel collaborative endeavours of science and practice and – last but not least – to pursue the joint search for knowledge.