In this week’s SYNC Spotlight, Judith Jacobs explains what it’s like to be the lab manager of the SYNC lab. Curious about her top 10 of positive things of being a lab manager, read about it in her blogpost!
On 25 February 2022, Renske van der Cruijsen will defend her PhD dissertation, entitled: ‘Exploring Me in a World of We’. Curious about Renske’s most important discoveries? Read more about her dissertation here.
In this week’s SYNC Spotlight, PhD candidate Ilse van de Groep explains what she learned from participating in the transdisciplinary research project NeurolabNL. How can we leverage such projects to educate the scientists of the future? Read more in this blogpost, or take a look at the NeurolabNL interactive e-magazine. In this e-magazine, (which Ilse also co-designed) you can find her recommendations for future research on antisocial behavior (Chapter 3.3).
Ilse van de Groep is a PhD Candidate at the SYNC lab and the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department (Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc) since 2018. In her PhD project, Ilse examines several mechanisms that underlie distinct developmental trajectories of social and antisocial behavior in emerging adulthood, with a specific focus on the neural correlates of self-concept, vicarious reward learning, social evaluation and aggression regulation.
On 10 February 2022, Suzanne van de Groep will defend her PhD dissertation, entitled: ‘Growing in Generosity? Unraveling the effects of benefactor-, beneficiary-, and situational characteristics on the development of giving and its neural correlates in adolescence’. Curious about Suzanne’s most important discoveries? Read more about her dissertation here.
The current generation of adolescents faces a triple crisis: the Covid-19 crisis, the climate crisis and a social inequality crisis. These societal challenges are not limited by national borders but require global collaboration. Our young generation has to face this triple crisis. At the same time, this generation has the potential to lead as agents of change. In a two-year project, the YoungXperts team aims to involve adolescents in research and policy. Their aim is that this empowers adolescents to deal with and contribute to solutions of the triple crisis. Within the project, special attention will be paid to reaching underrepresented youth. De Nationale Wetenschapsagenda (NWA) supports the project through a science communication grant of €150,000.
Extending the youth participation platform YoungXperts
During the corona crisis, we developed the YoungXperts platform. In brainstorm sessions with adolescents, we shared scientific knowledge (the Facts), after which adolescents converted these facts into concrete actions (Take Actions). Actions that could improve the future of adolescents during the corona crisis. Adolescents were able to use our Instagram to see how they could improve their mental well-being. For example, we shared tips from adolescents on how they could seek as much support as possible from their social environment despite the corona measures. With the grant from NWA, we can develop this platform further. Together with youth organizations, we want to create a national online platform that can voice the needs and ideas of adolescents.
Reaching out to a diverse group of adolescents
We also aim to develop a strategy to involve underrepresented youth in scientific research. The fact that science does not reach all groups of adolescents is problematic in combating the triple crisis because these crises can only be addressed if everyone contributes. Finally, research often fails to reach those adolescents that are hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 and social inequality crises. The strategy to reach underrepresented youth is developed in close collaboration with youth organizations and important people around adolescents (so-called ‘key figures’ such as youth workers).
Collaboration between youth organizations, social partners and researchers
The project will start soon and runs for two years. The YoungXperts team is collaborating for this project with the University of Amsterdam (Dr. Thijs Bol) and Utrecht University (Prof. Dr. Sander Thomaes), various youth organizations (Nationale Jeugdraad, Jonge Klimaatbeweging, studenteninitatief Lieve Mark, Erasmus Verbindt), the program Maatschappelijke Diensttijd (MDT Op Zuid), the Municipality of Rotterdam and science museum NEMO.
Involved researchers:
Prof. Dr. Eveline Crone
Dr. Lysanne te Brinke
Kayla Green
Fabienne van Rossenberg
Suzanne van de Groep
Renske van der Cruijsen
Voor het Weekend van de Wetenschap 2021 maakten onze onderzoekers een filmpje voor kinderen over de eerste bevindingen uit het Samen Uniek tweelingonderzoek. We doen met dit filmpje daarnaast ook een oproep aan jullie. Aan het einde van het filmpje vragen we namelijk om jullie ideeën of vragen over het brein met ons te delen, zodat wij als onderzoekers de vragen die jullie hebben kunnen beantwoorden. Binnen ons lab willen we jullie input namelijk gebruiken om als onderzoekers de juiste onderzoeksvragen te stellen en andersom ook beter aan te sluiten bij de doelgroep. We zijn erg benieuwd naar jullie reacties!
The teen years are a formative period for healthy social and emotional development. The Covid-19 pandemic and associated measures such as the intelligent lockdown pose a potential threat. Prof. Dr. Eveline Crone and researchers Suzanne van de Groep, Kayla Green and Sophie Sweijen from Erasmus University and Kiki Zanolie from Leiden University have conducted research to map out the consequences of the lockdown for young people.
Curious to find out about the consequences for young people? Read the full press release here.
De creativiteit en de manier van denken die jongeren nog bezitten is onmisbaar voor leiders in crisistijd. Eveline Crone, hoogleraar Neurocognitieve Ontwikkelingspsychologie en auteur van het boek ‘het puberende brein, vertelt in deze aflevering van Werkprofessor hoe je jongeren optimaal inzet in jouw organisatie:
Find out more about the podcast.
Postdoc Michelle Achterberg has collaborated with Veilig Verkeer Nederland to produce a (scientifically sound) video series to promote road safety for kids. You can view the series here (in Dutch).
To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, it is prohibited to have gatherings with more than three individuals and mandatory to keep a distance of 1.5 meters in the Netherlands. Young people seem to really struggle to keep to these rules. Why is that? Suzanne van de Groep explains why youngsters struggle with the corona-rules in a recent interview with NOS Stories.
You can read the full interview here (in Dutch): https://stories.lab.nos.nl/artikel/408/waarom-vooral-jongeren-moeite-hebben-met-alle-coronaregels