HiSTORY

The Flinders–Holland Cotutelle Program traces its origins to the collaborative vision of Professors Job Doornberg and Ruurd Jaarsma in Australia, together with Professor Gino Kerkhoffs in Amsterdam—three orthopaedic specialists and distinguished researchers in the field of orthopaedic surgery. In 2016, having just having finished his Orthopaedic residency in the Netherlands, Professor Doornberg relocated to Adelaide to undertake an Orthopaedic Trauma Fellowship at Flinders Medical Centre (FMC) under the supervision of Professor Jaarsma. Inspired by the success of the Harvard-Holland Research Program, the professors recognised the potential for a similar transcontinental collaboration between Australia and the Netherlands.

The initiative initially began as a research partnership between Flinders University/Flinders Medical Centre and the University of Amsterdam. Drawing on their extensive academic experience and international networks, Professors Doornberg, Jaarsma and Kerkhoffs laid the foundations for what would later evolve into a formalised dual-degree PhD program. Drs. Minke Bergsma and Jetske Viveen were among the pioneering candidates of this initiative and became the first students to graduate from the program (during the COVID-19 pandemic, remarkably!) and both were awarded PhDs from Flinders University and the University of Amsterdam through the newly established Cotutelle exchange pathway.

Drs. Jetske Viveen and Minke Bergsma successfully completed their PhD defences during the COVID-19 pandemic as the program’s inaugural graduates.

As additional cohorts of students arrived in Adelaide, the initiative rapidly gained momentum in both Australia and the Netherlands. This growth led to the establishment of a structured partnership enabling joint supervision of PhD candidates across institutions. Students benefit from shared expertise, international mentorship, and access to extensive research resources while dividing their training between Adelaide and the Netherlands. Upon completion, candidates are awarded doctoral degrees from both participating universities. The Flinders-Holland Cotutelle program was officially born and it expanded at a rapid pace, with additional Dutch universities expressing their interest and students from the University of Groningen (RUG) and Radboud University in Nijmegen subsequently joining the program. Associate Professor Jacobien Oosterhoff was the first to enjoy a PhD exchange across all three research sites: Amsterdam, Adelaide and Boston.

Today, the program has produced a growing network of successful alumni, with many more candidates currently working on their PhD thesis. Participants have demonstrated strong academic performance, with high-quality publications and the establishment of international research collaborations. Beyond academic achievement, the program has also supported each of its graduates in securing competitive clinical training positions within their chosen specialties.Working together with the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML), this program offers ambitious students the unique opportunity to find themselves at the frontier of research on Machine Learning in the Orthopaedic field. In an evolving healthcare landscape, the Flinders–Holland Cotutelle Program remains committed to training the next generation of surgeons and clinician researchers to make a lasting impact on clinical practice, scientific innovation, and global collaboration.