Where do you find your educational drive?
Education is incredibly dynamic and constantly changing. Every academic year is a new challenge; 'what will come our way?' It is an adventure to walk that path again and again, while it looks slightly different and you also have a different group of students with you. It gives me great satisfaction to keep thinking about the best route, instead of doing the same thing every year. This also allows me to keep developing myself in my work.
Which moment has always stayed with you?
What sticks with me the most are the students with a personal story. A study often seems like a 'one size fits all' approach, but in practice we naturally encounter students who need something different. Connecting with a student, and making sure someone feels seen and heard, is always special. For me and hopefully for the student too. Just last year, for example, I received a message from a student who was about to start her master's and wanted to let me know. That's when you know you were able to mean something to someone, and those are moments that stay with you.
What do you hope your students take away from your education?
Research is not necessarily the first thing students think of when they choose to study Psychology. But it is the basis of all the knowledge we have about the field. A critical academic attitude is therefore very important. In practice, too, it is a very important skill to be able to deal critically with new knowledge, treatment methods and insights. With the advent of generative AI, there have come a legion of temptations to outsource that critical thinking. But actually, that is exactly what such a system cannot do, critical thinking. During the course in which we focus on academic and research skills, I hope to teach students above all that they can rely on their own brainpower.
What was your biggest learning moment as a teacher?
The most difficult part of my job is guarding my own time. Because you are always dealing with people - students or other teachers - I am tempted to 'quickly' check and answer my e-mail even in the evening, on my day off or at the weekend. After all, someone is waiting for my response. But being reachable 24/7 is neither feasible nor healthy when you consider the work-life balance. But I have to keep actively reminding myself of that.
What is something that you still want to try in your education?
Due to digitisation, students are more inclined to conduct research digitally rather than going out into the “real” world. I think it would be cool to take the students with us into the city, just to observe the behaviour we encounter and use that as the basis for a small study. Collecting data and actually coming into contact with your participants, instead of sitting behind a screen. If we want to understand people better, that is obviously the best way.