Since its founding in 2019, Research-Aid Networks has worked to bridge the gap between scientific research and real-world community impact. The urgency of the pandemic brought this mission into sharp focus, and led to collaborations with community groups, public health advocates, and patients, that shaped much of our direction in the years that followed.
During that time, Vicky van der Togt, a community organizer, advocate, and researcher with a background in communication, joined the organization and played a key role in facilitating and expanding our activities and partnerships. As Director of Development, she was instrumental in advancing collaborations with grassroots and patient-led initiatives, advocating for their voices to be heard at local, national, and international levels. She also helped ensure that our work remained accessible, inclusive, and grounded in community-informed, patient-centered values.
We recognize the value of the advocacy-driven approach we adopted during the pandemic. However, advocacy was never the organization’s original focus. In 2025, we will begin realigning our approach to return to our core mission: bridging research with community- and humanitarian aid organizations. This shift marks a change in direction, one centered on supporting community initiatives in leveraging and developing research to advance their operational goals. While we remain committed to creating community impact, this transition signals a move away from direct advocacy and advocacy-focused initiatives, reflecting a broader and more sustainable approach to our work beyond the pandemic context.
As part of this strategic realignment, Vicky’s role within the organization will be concluding. Recognizing that the organization’s new direction no longer fully aligns with Vicky’s core expertise and professional goals, which focus on community organizing, and providing structural, strategic, and organizational support to advocates, (grassroots) community groups, and non-profits.
We are deeply thankful for Vicky’s leadership and for the ways in which our collaboration helped shape both our trajectory and impact during a critical time in global health. Her work helped us build meaningful and equitable community relationships, with whom we’ve done important work over the years. We are confident that what we’ve achieved together will have a lasting impact. We remain grateful for all she has brought to Research-Aid Networks and wish her the very best in the next chapter of her career.
