Monika is assistant professor at the Department of Youth and Family at Utrecht University. As researcher, she is part of the InTransition project, where she focusses on interaction between parents and adolescents and the development of autonomy during adolescence.

During her PhD, she investigated emotional processes during teaching in secondary school teachers, by using heart rate measures in combination with behavioral coding of interpersonal teacher and student behavior.

Monika was a visiting researcher at the University of Konstanz (Germany) from May-July 2018 (Prof. Dr. Thomas Goetz). Monika has presented her work at various international conferences (EARLI, SAA, ISPA). During her PhD, she has been a member of the PhD council of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Educational Committee of the Interuniversity Centre of Educational Sciences (ICO).