Join us for RHCS 2026! The “15th Annual Resilient Health Care Society Meeting” will be held in Leiden, the Netherlands, on August 17-19, 2026. The preconference will take place one day in advance (August 16, 2026).
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Exploring the Future of Resilient Health Care Gather with leading international experts from the Resilient Health Care Society (RHCS) to exchange the latest research and practical strategies for strengthening resilient health systems. Expect fresh perspectives, pioneering speakers, and take-home strategies you can apply to strengthen teams, processes, and patient safety.
Interactive and Practice-Driven Programme The meeting will be hosted in Leiden, The Netherlands, at the iconic 16th-century Academy Building. The programme blends concise presentations with extended audience discussions and generous networking opportunities, all designed to spark collaboration and turn fresh ideas into practical action in your own setting. The optional opening day (Sunday August 16, 2026) offers a pre-conference program designed to familiarize participants with the theory and key concepts, and to bring them up to date with the latest insights in resilient health care research.
Main conference: Monday–Wednesday, August 17-19, 2026
Programme
The programme will be further refined as the conference date approaches. The current tentative structure will be provided below.
Preconference
The optional preconference is designed to familiarize participants with the theoretical foundations and underlying principles, and to bring them up to date with the latest insights in resilient health care research by the most prominent scholars in the field.
Sunday Aug 16, 2026: 14.30h – 18.00h, followed by a welcome dinner; this is optional and requires separate registration.
Main Conference
The main conference blends keynote speakers and abstract presentations (in various forms and lenghts) with extended audience discussions and generous networking opportunities.
Day 1 (Aug 17, 2026): 10.00h – 17.30h, followed by social event/dinner
Day 2 (Aug 18, 2026): 09.00h – 17.00h, followed by social event/dinner
Day 3 (Aug 19, 2026): 09.00h – 13.30h, including closing lunch
Program composition and themes
The final composition of the program, including the exact themes for the sessions, will be shared following completion of the abstract review process. In addition to Resilient Health Care, the meeting’s longstanding central focus, this year’s theme is “Navigating Social Capital: Team Interactions and Socio-Technical Infrastructures.” This theme addresses resilience at the level of health care teams, examining how overall system functioning is shaped by interactions within and between teams, as well as by their engagement with organisational and technological infrastructures. The scope includes individual clinical teams, multi-team systems (“teams of teams”), and team-based work that contributes to resilience across organisational boundaries and throughout the broader healthcare system.
Potential subthemes include:
Clinical teams & ‘teams of teams’
Patient centeredness & involvement
Collective reflection, learning & education
Leadership, management & governance
Cultural, psychological & team dynamics
Coordination of care (systems)
Technical tools & infrastructure
Advancing theory & analytical tools
Early Career Program
RHCS Early career Program– RHCS Meeting 2026, Leiden (The Netherlands)
In connection with the Resilient Health Care Society (RHCS) Meeting 2026, taking place 16–19 August 2026 in Leiden, a dedicated RHCS Early career Program Workshop will be organized for PhD students conducting research in the field of Resilient Health Care (RHC).
In 2026, the program is designed for a small and focused group of four selected students.
What is the RHCS Early career Program?
The RHCS Early career Program is an RHCS initiative aimed at supporting the next generation of researchers in Resilient Health Care. This one‑day in‑person event provides students with an opportunity to present their research, engage in structured academic dialogue, and receive detailed feedback from leading international RHC scholars. The program also includes participation in the RHCS meeting with a discount.
Outline of the program
There will be two online workshops in addition to a physical workshop that takes place 16 August before the official opening of RHCS Meeting 2026. Detailed program will be announced after 15th of April to the talents and mentors.
Who can apply?
PhD students currently conducting research related to Resilient Health Care are encouraged to apply. Relevant areas include (but are not limited to):
Resilience in clinical work
System perspectives on healthcare
Adaptive capacity in healthcare settings, clinical or organizational
Digitalization and technology in resilient practice
Measurement of resilient performance
Safety-II approaches to patient safety
Modeling complex healthcare systems
Learning, coordination, improvisation in healthcare teams
Knowledge sharing and design for resilient performance
The selection committee seeks gender balance, disciplinary diversity, and geographical variety.
What are the benefits of participating?
Selected students will gain:
Academic Development
An opportunity to present their research in a small, supportive, expert-led forum
Personalized, high-quality feedback on research design, theoretical framing, and methodology
Practice and refinement of oral presentation skills
Networking Opportunities
Direct engagement with RHCS researchers, practitioners, and conference speakers
Connections with peers working on related topics
Opportunities for future research collaboration
Long‑term Involvement
Participants are encouraged to remain active within the RHCS community after 2026—through writing, organizing events, contributing to networks, or supporting future Young Talents cohorts.
Fee and Funding
There is no fee for the RHCS Early career Program event day for the four selected participants. They will also have a 50% registration discount on the ordinary registration fee of 1150 € for students so that their fee for participation in the RHCS meeting is only 575 €.
How to apply
Submit a single application package containing the following:
Cover Page
Full name
Institution and department
Primary thesis advisor
Research Description (max 1000 words)
Include sections on:
Background and motivation
Research questions / hypotheses
Methods (planned or completed)
Work completed to date (e.g., pilot studies, data collection, early analysis)
Results (preliminary or anticipated)
Expected contribution to the field of Resilient Health Care
Letter of Recommendation from Advisor
Must confirm:
Support for the student’s participation
Information about existing travel funding
CV (maximum 2 pages)
Personal Statement of motivation (maximum 400 words)
Explain:
Why you would like to participate
How your work relates to the RHCS 2026 theme
Which aspects of your research you want feedback on
How you would like to contribute to the RHCS Early career Program network in the future
Who is the ideal candidate?
Students who have progressed beyond the initial idea stage—for example:
Completed or ongoing data collection
Preliminary analyses
A developed conceptual or methodological framework
A thesis or project proposal in place
Projects should clearly relate to RHC themes.
Important dates
Number of participants: 4 students
Application deadline: 15 April 2026
Notification of acceptance: 1 May 2026
Online workshop 1 June 2026
Online workshop 15 June 2026
RHCS Early career Workshop: 16 August 2026, Leiden
We welcome international clinical practitioners, researchers and all other persons involved or interested in Resilient Health Care. To support young colleagues in attending the RHCS meeting, reduced fees are available for medical students and PhD students.
Accreditation
For Dutch participants: ABAN accreditation (KNMG) will be requested.
Accommodation, travel and locations
Conference locations The preconference will be held at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC):
LUMC, Albinusdreef 2, Leiden, the Netherlands For more information and directions, please click here.
The RHCS Annual Meeting 2025 will be held at the ‘Telders’ auditorium in the Academy Building of Leiden University:
Academy Building, Rapenburg 73, Leiden, the Netherlands For more information and directions, please click here.
Hotel
Hotel accommodation is included in the registration fee, as well as all meals mentioned in the programme. The hotel is the located directly next to the Leiden railway station and the LUMC hospital:
Fletcher Wellness Hotel Leiden, Bargelaan 180, Leiden, the Netherlands For more information, please visit their website.
Travel
Leiden is ideally situated in close proximity to major cities like The Hague and Amsterdam. By public transportation, Schiphol Airport is less than 20 minutes away, and Rotterdam The Hague Airport about 25 minutes.
We strongly recommend traveling by train, because the hotel and city centre are easily accessible from Leiden Central Station. For more information about traveling from and to Schiphol Airport by train, visit this website.
Social Programme
Dietary preferences or restrictions will be collected during registration. Both the preconference as well as the main days of the conferences will include dinners at locations that are special to the city, such as The Orangery of the Hortus Botanicus (oldest botanical garden in the Netherlands and one of the oldest in Europe) and ‘De Burcht’ (Leiden’s 11th-century Castle). Participants will also have the opportunity to experience Leiden’s historic landmarks from the water on a scenic boat tour.
You can register for the conference via this link.
Fees
Main conference: €1650 (early bird) / €1750 (from May 1, 2026)
Main conference PhD / medical students*: €1150 (early bird) / €1250 (from May 1, 2026)
Preconference: €200 (incl. preconference dinner afterwards, together with participants of main conference).
Included in the registration fee
+ Access to all meeting sessions + Conference programme and materials + Hotel accommodation for 3 nights (Sunday, August 16 – Wednesday, August 19, 2026) + Breakfast at the hotel, coffee breaks, lunches and dinners + Social programme + Preconference dinner - Please note that access to the preconference requires a separate registration.
Registration fees are exempt from Dutch VAT.
*Student rate is available for medical students, PhD-students and clinicians in training during the 2025-2026 academic year. If you register as a student, a scan of your student pass will have to be submitted to boerhaavenascholing@lumc.nl.
Letter of invitation
A letter of invitation can be requested during the registration process. Such an invitation is intended to help potential participants raise travel funds or obtain a visa. It is not a commitment on the part of the congress to provide any financial support.
Registration Cancellation Policy
Unpaid registrations will be canceled at the end of the rate availability period and automatically adjusted to the new applicable rate without further notice.
Please find the terms and conditions, including the cancellation policy here. To request a cancellation, please contact Boerhaavenascholing@lumc.nl.
Contact
For any questions regarding registration or the congress in general, please contact us at Boerhaavenascholing@lumc.nl.
