The Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW), the oldest scientific academy in the Netherlands, recently appointed Karin Roelofs and Mark Dingemanse as new members. A great opportunity to ask them about their plans for the future and where they hope their research will be in five years’ time.
‘I conduct research into how stress shapes our behaviour: how we make decisions under pressure and how the autonomic and central nervous systems work together in this process. My goal is to gain a fundamental understanding of how the brain calculates choices under stress; knowledge that is essential for improving treatments for anxiety disorders'.
Above all, I hope that the academy will once again offer plenty of room for curiosity, long-term vision and young talent
'In five years’ time, my ERC Advanced team and I will have developed a new framework that explains decision-making under stress, in both healthy people and patients. This way, I am linking fundamental neuroscience with clinical applications. At the same time, I am committed to innovation: ultrasound as a precision technique for neuromodulation and the further development of biofeedback interventions for police and young people within the NWA-CONTEXT consortium. My appointment at the KHMW offers an inspiring network to reinforce these ambitions. Above all, I hope that the academy will once again offer plenty of room for curiosity, long-term vision and young talent.’
‘I research the wonderful world of language, perhaps the most important technology known to humankind. Language enables us to collaborate, share knowledge and give meaning to the world around us. That continues to fascinate me every day. That is precisely why I find the KHMW such a wonderful place: scientists and social partners come together there, and that cross-pollication yields new insights'.
Language is perhaps the most important technology we have; I want to understand how we shape its future
'Over the next five years, my Vici team and I will be researching the futures of language. In a world that seems to be increasingly uniform, we are inspired by the richness and diversity of languages and cultures worldwide. We take a critical look at language models that mainly produce uniformity and develop alternatives that better reflect how people really communicate. In this way, we want to contribute to technology that enhances rather than reduces linguistic diversity, and to new ways of thinking about the relationship between language, people and technology.’