Team
Prof. dr. Ajay Bailey
Chair in Geographies of Health, Inclusion, and Development
International Development Studies, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University.
Professor Bailey is passionate about creating sustainable and inclusive futures. He specialises in the intersection of (planetary) health, ageing, and inclusive cities. With a strong foundation in anthropology and demography, Ajay brings a unique perspective to the challenges faced by rapidly urbanising communities in India, Bangladesh, Curaçao, and the Netherlands, where he focuses on integrating human-centred approaches to health, urban infrastructures, and social equity.
Ajay has an extensive experience managing research teams across countries, leveraging his excellent leadership skills to drive collaborative, cross-cultural initiatives, and is very passionate about qualitative research, teaching, and capacity building of young researchers. His work significantly contributes to expanding the field of transnational mobilities, ageing, intergenerational relations, health systems research, health services, reducing barriers to care, while establishing meaningful North-South and South-South collaborations.
Dr. George Downward
Associate Professor, Global Health, Exposome, and Planetary Health
Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht
Dr. Downward is an Associate Professor at UMC Utrecht and an affiliated researcher at the Institute of Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, where his research focus examines how environmental and planetary disruptions, in combination with personal risk factors, contribute to communicable and non-communicable disease. He has a special interest in planetary health, vulnerable groups, and low-middle income countries. George’s publications examine the relationship between our changing world and human health in a variety of ways as exampled by his recent publications on air pollution on health, the role of scenario analysis in achieving the SDGs, and the importance of sex and gender disaggregated data.
drs. Camilla Alay Llamas
Hub Manager, Planetary Health Education Hub
Project Manager, Global Health, Exposome, and Planetary Health
Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht
drs. Llamas is a medical doctor from the Philippines, where she gained hands-on experience providing medical and surgical assistance to underserved and remote communities – grounding her early career in community-based care and health equity. In 2018, she obtained her Master’s in Public Health from KIT Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. Alay is currently a project manager at UMC Utrecht, and serves as Hub Manager of the Planetary Health Education Hub at Utrecht University. Her work centres on capacity building, equitable partnerships, and education, with a particular focus on transforming how knowledge is developed and applied through a planetary health lens. This includes reimagining planetary health curricula in higher education institutions in Asia to foster transformative, justice-oriented learning in low- and middle-income settings, while prioritising community engagement as a cornerstone of meaningful and sustainable health development. Her expertise spans clinical medicine, community health, global health, capacity building, curriculum design, and planetary health education.
Prof. Dr. Ir. Roel Vermeulen
Professor, Veterinary medicine, Department of Population Health Sciences, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS)
Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht
Professor Vermeulen is Professor of Environmental Epidemiology and Exposome Science at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University. He holds an adjunct professor position at the Julius Center, Department Public Health Healthcare Innovation and Medical. Humanities (UMC Utrecht)
and a Visiting Professorship at Imperial College London, UK. He has been appointed Distinguished
University Professor at Utrecht University as of 15 July 2024.
Since 2024, Roel is Scientific Director of the Institute for Preventive Health (i4PH) of the EWUU alliance of the universities of Eindhoven Wageningen (WUR), Utrecht and UMC Utrecht. He chairs the planetary
health community of Utrecht Life Sciences. Roel coordinates the Dutch research program on the exposome (Exposome-NL), leads an EU project (EXPANSE) as part of the European Human Exposome Network, coordinates the Dutch Hub of the European infrastructure on Exposome research (EIRENE-NL), co-coordinates the International Human Exposome Network (IHEN) and coordinates an EU project on micro- and nanoplastics (AURORA). Additionally, he has served on many international committees including the World Health Organization and the National Toxicology Program in the USA. He was a member of the Dutch Health Council for over 12 years and has authored/co-authored over 800 academic publications.
Prof. dr. Tine Béneker
Vice Dean, Geosciences
Professor, Geoscience, Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Geography & Education
Tine Béneker is professor of Geography & Education at the Faculty of Geosciences. Her main research interest is in the field of Geography Education Research and the relationship between disciplinary knowledge and school subjects. She has published on the future and global dimension in geography education, young people’s global awareness, representation issues and textbooks and (student) teacher education and professionalisation.