Accepted funding proposals

Invigoration Grants

Sheida Novin (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Hend Eltanamly (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Eva Etortelder (UMCU), Maryse Vorm (UMCU), Joanne M. Chung (Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Odilia Laceulle (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Cultural self-views after fleeing one’s country: The role of trust in others in young adult refugees’ cultural identity

This project shifts focus from the mental health of refugees to exploring the cultural identity of young adult refugees. It examines how traumatic experiences and post-migration stress contribute to a conflicted cultural identity, with a specific focus on trust in others as a potential protective factor. The study will use existing longitudinal data to test whether trust in others can weaken the negative effects of trauma and stress on cultural identity. Additionally, focus groups with refugees will gather insights on trust for personal and professional development. Results will be used to inform reports that offer practical recommendations for supporting refugees in university programs.

Tessel Boerma (Humanities), Marieke de Vries (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Janna de Boer (Karakter) – Neurodevelopmental disorders and multilingualism in child and adolescent psychiatry

This project examines whether multilingual children are more or less likely than monolingual children to receive a neurodevelopmental diagnosis in child and adolescent psychiatry. Although many Dutch children grow up with multiple languages, clinical assessments often rely on a monolingual Dutch norm, risking misinterpretation of their abilities. Using patient records from over 3,500 referred children, the study will compare diagnostic outcomes while accounting for factors such as migration background, socioeconomic status, age, and symptom severity. The findings aim to raise awareness of the importance of considering all languages a child learns and to inform improvements in diagnostic practices for multilingual youth.

Vinicius Coscioni (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Liselotte den Boer (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Rik Huizinga (Geosciences), Qixiang Fang (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Dong Nguyen (Science), Luzelle Naude (Humanities, University of the Free State, South Africa) – Mapping The Future of Emerging Adults: Exploring Identity, Life Goals, and Well-Being Across Cultures

This project investigates how the content of life goals relates to emerging adults’ well-being, and how this link varies by gender, age, culture, and identity. Emerging adulthood is increasingly marked by insecurity and mental health challenges, making it crucial to understand how young people envision their future. Using inductive tools that let participants freely generate goals, the study examines goal density, priority, and future extension across life domains. Combining existing data from 19 countries with new data from the Netherlands and South Africa, the project explores how life goals and identity content jointly support well-being during this developmental period.

Sebastian Kurten (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Sanneke de Haan (Humanities) – The Potential of Hope to Promote Mental Health in Children Affected by Armed Conflict

Children affected by armed conflict face displacement, violence, and loss, often resulting in anxiety, depression, and disrupted development. While conflict threatens safety and stability, hope remains a key protective factor linked to resilience and recovery. Existing evidence suggests that hope supports belonging, future orientation, and coping, but research is fragmented and lacks clear definitions or mechanisms. This project addresses that gap through a systematic review of how hope is conceptualized and measured in conflict settings, and an analysis of existing intervention datasets. Together, these steps will clarify hope’s role in mental health and inform improved, hope-focused interventions

Thomas van Huizen (Law, Economics and Governance), Ekin Yurdakul (Law, Economics and Governance), Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – The Earlier, the Better? Effects of Preschool Entry Age on Child Development

This project examines how the age at which children enter early childhood education and care (ECEC) affects their development. Using rich data from the Dutch EVENING study, it analyzes children’s language, social-emotional, motor, and executive functioning skills in relation to preschool starting age. Leveraging variation in municipal eligibility rules, the project identifies causal effects of earlier entry, while also assessing how outcomes depend on ECEC quality and family background. By comparing children from diverse socioeconomic contexts, it investigates whether earlier enrollment promotes equal opportunities. The results will provide timely evidence to inform national policy debates and support families’ decisions about preschool entry.

Hanna Schleihauf (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Tom Roth (Science), Edwin van Leeuwen (Science) – The Evolutionary Origins of Cultural Communication

This project investigates how young chimpanzees acquire culturally transmitted behaviors through early communication with their mothers, focusing on high-arm grooming – a community-specific practice passed across generations. Building on parallels with human cultural learning, the study examines how mothers guide infants, how offspring adopt maternal styles, and whether early exposure to diverse communicative cues fosters later social flexibility. Using longitudinal video analyses and microcoding methods, the project explores the developmental roots of cultural transmission. The findings aim to advance our understanding of the evolution of social learning, strengthen interdisciplinary collaboration between psychology and animal behavior, and support public outreach on human-chimpanzee cultural connections.

Marjolein Missler (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Floortje Scheepers (UMCU), Eveline Spree (ProParents) – Strengthening Ties in the Face of Trauma: Parent-Child Communication in Refugee Families’ Daily Lives

This project investigates how parent-child communication in refugee families relates to parental trauma and its transmission to children. The focus lies on early childhood, where communication difficulties—such as emotional detachment, harsh language, or lack of warmth—may contribute to mental health challenges in children. The research aims to (1) describe parent-child communication patterns and relate them to symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and grief, and (2) contribute to theory-building on how parental trauma can shape child development through everyday interactions.

Zoë Rejaän (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Neve Oprins (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Rianne van Dijk (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Inge van der Valk (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Charlotte Mol (Law, Economics and Governance), Bernadette Janssen (Onderzoeksteam Sterk Huis), Olaf Goorden (Team complexe scheidingen / iHub) – Families in complex divorce: Streamlining the Consent Process & Optimizing Sample Size

This project aims to improve a ZonMw-funded research project evaluating the effectiveness of divorce interventions on the well-being of parents and children. It will streamline the consent process for using the SCRES questionnaire in pre- and post-intervention measurements, optimizing data quality and quantity. Changes include shifting from active to passive consent, integrating the consent form within the SCRES survey, and translating the tool into English, French, and Arabic to overcome language barriers.

Joyce Browne (UMCU), Kim Verschueren (UMCU), Regien Biesma (UMCU), Elburg van Boetzelaer (Médicines sans Frontièrs & UMCU), Annemieke Steenbergen (REBO), Maria van der Harst (UMCU), Oscar Franco (UMCU), Kitty Bloemenkamp (UMCU), Amrish Baidjoe (Médicines sans Frontièrs) – Shaping the future partnership between MSF, UMCU, UU and Dynamics of Youth: an accelerator grant

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and UMC Utrecht collaborate on global health research and education, focusing on maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH). This partnership combines MSF’s operational expertise and real-world data with UMCU’s academic strengths to improve health outcomes in vulnerable populations. The collaboration aims to identify key research priorities, establish equitable partnerships with LMIC institutions, develop joint PhD projects, and create a strategic three-year plan integrating research, education, and knowledge translation. Overcoming time constraints among staff is a priority to strengthen and sustain this impactful partnership.

Rik Huizinga (Geosciences) & Ymke de Bruijn (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Anti-racist praxis and youth development: Tracing critical consciousness in white young people’s biographies

This project investigates how white Dutch youth develop critical consciousness about race and racism, focusing on their awareness, motivation, and actions toward social change. It addresses a knowledge gap on how privileged youth engage with these issues, considering unique emotional challenges and the need for different approaches. The research emphasizes the importance of the Dutch socio-political context, characterized by race-silence, and aims to identify methodological and ethical considerations for studying racism. This foundation supports future interdisciplinary research on youth, race, and social justice in the Netherlands.

Roy Hessels (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Travel grant: Cross-cultural research on multimodal communication and its application in social robotics.

Over the past two years, Roy Hessels has led research on cross-cultural differences in multimodal communication, focusing on eye contact in collaborative interactions between the Netherlands and Japan. This research involves teams from Utrecht University, Lund University, and Hamamatsu University School of Medicine. The travel grant aims to expand this research by exploring collaboration opportunities in social robotics and multimodal communication in Japan. The visit, planned for June-August 2025, will involve work with various institutions, including Hamamatsu University and the University of Tokyo, to foster joint research and potential grant applications.

Corline Parmentier (UMCU), Marian Jongmans (Social and Behavioural Sciences & UMCU) – Minisymposium “Samen op weg voor betere zorg na een gecompliceerde neonatale periode.”

The mini-symposium will focus on the long-term neurodevelopmental challenges faced by children born with complications. Organized in collaboration with experts, including neonatologist Floris Groenendaal and parent-expert Linda Heufke, it aims to transfer scientific knowledge, promote interdisciplinary collaboration, and enhance patient participation. The event, coinciding with Corline Parmentier’s PhD defense on perinatal asphyxia, targets healthcare professionals, researchers, and societal partners. It will feature presentations on brain injury causes, follow-up care, and patient perspectives. The symposium aims to address knowledge gaps and improve neurodevelopmental surveillance.

Tim Takken (UMCU), Olav Versloot (HU), Johannes Noordstar (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Summerschool Paediatric Sport & Exercise Medicine 2025

The Summerschool in Paediatric Sport & Exercise Medicine provides a comprehensive overview of the role of exercise in both healthy children and those with chronic conditions. The program covers key topics in paediatric exercise physiology and the use of exercise as medicine. Participants engage in practical sessions on fitness testing, training, and physical assessments. The content reflects current research from the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital and other centers, with additional insights from external experts, emphasizing the value of exercise in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.

Marlies Maes (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Loneliness, when and how does it become harmful?: Reaching impact by including perspectives of youth

An interdisciplinary Lorentz Center workshop in Leiden focuses on understanding when and how loneliness becomes harmful, particularly for youth. While loneliness is often a temporary experience, it can have long-term negative effects for some, including poorer mental health and reduced life outcomes. This workshop brings together researchers, practitioners, individuals with lived experience, and policy-makers to develop a shared framework on harmful loneliness. A key aim is to include diverse perspectives—especially those of youth, youth workers, and Dutch policy-makers—to deepen insight into this complex issue.

Marina di Stefano (UMCU) – Open Call for a research visit

Marina, research engineer at IRCCS Eugenio Medea and PhD candidate at Utrecht University, focuses on fetal brain development using AI and diffusion-weighted imaging. Her project combines methodological innovation with clinical relevance, aiming to improve early diagnosis and understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders. A research visit to Utrecht supports collaboration and specialized training.

Mohammed Salim Sulley Wangabi (UMCU), Joyce Browne (UMCU), Kitty Bloemenkamp (UMCU) – Mental Health of Pregnant and postpartum women in low- and middle-income countries, the case of Ghana

This project focuses on maternal mental health in low- and middle-income countries, with a specific focus on Ghana. It explores the prevalence of mental disorders during pregnancy and postpartum, as well as protective, resilience-promoting, and psychosocial factors influencing mental health. The initiative includes collaborative research and teaching contributions during the Global Maternal, Newborn and Child Health summer school in the Netherlands. It aims to support the development of institutional and community-based interventions to improve maternal mental health through joint analysis, manuscript development, and in-person collaboration.

Jane Pieplenbosch (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Travel grant to attend the Swiss Psychological Society conference and a writing retreat to further research collaboration on fostering adolescents’ self-regulated learning

As part of a PhD project on fostering adolescents’ self-regulated learning, a three-month research visit will be undertaken at the University of Zurich, hosted by Prof. Dr. Mariëtte van Loon, head of the SNSF-funded group on Metacognitive Development. In addition to the research stay, participation in the Swiss Psychological Society conference and a writing retreat with Prof. Van Loon’s team is planned. These activities will strengthen international collaboration, support career development, and explore joint grant opportunities. Jane also aims to foster deeper ties between the Utrecht University DoY community and the Zurich lab through shared research interests and future symposia.

Sara Brouwer (Geosciences) – Geographies of infant feeding in early motherhood: een illustratie en puzzels als publieksactiviteit en springplank voor toekomstig onderzoekproject

This project received funding to develop materials for the Puzzel Praat activity at the Weekend van de Wetenschap and for future research on the geographies of infant feeding in early motherhood. In this interactive activity, children “interview” their parents while assembling illustrated wooden puzzles, exploring where, how, and why babies are fed across private and public spaces. The activity helps test innovative qualitative methods and raises awareness of infant feeding practices, contributing to research led by Dr. Sara Brouwer and supporting a society where families feel free and welcome to feed their children as they choose.

Anouk Smeekes (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Andrik Becht (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Jeroen Oomen (Geosciences) – Developmental Dynamics of Climate Anxiety and Climate Hope of Dutch Youth: Implications for Pro-Environmental Behavior and Mental Health

This project investigates how climate anxiety and climate hope develop in Dutch youth aged 12–25, and how these emotions shape both mental health and pro-environmental behavior. As climate impacts intensify, young people increasingly experience anxiety, which can motivate action but also harm wellbeing, while hope may support both engagement and resilience. Little is known about how these emotions emerge or change over time. Using a three-wave longitudinal dataset, the study will map developmental trajectories and examine how climate emotions interact with perceived threat, efficacy beliefs, institutional trust, and environmental identity. Findings will clarify how youth can remain mentally healthy while constructively engaging with climate challenges.

Invigoration Grants

Heidi Lesscher (Veterinary Medicine), Marije Achterberg (Veterinary Medicine), Jeroen Dudink (UMCU), Cora Nijboer (UMCU), Freek Hoebeek (UMCU), Manon Benders (UMCU), Cathrin Canto (KNAW) – Sleep Deprivation during Early Life: Implications for Brain Development and the Prospects of Risky Play as Therapeutic Approach

Preterm infants in the NICU often face disrupted brain development due to altered sleep patterns, increasing their risk of cognitive and behavioural deficits. Sleep is essential for brain development, but NICU environments can severely disrupt it. Recent studies suggest that sleep deprivation impairs brain growth, particularly in white matter. A potential non-pharmaceutical intervention is risky play, which enhances brain function and behavior by fostering social competence, emotional resilience, and cognitive flexibility. Research in rodents indicates that risky play could help mitigate the adverse effects of sleep deprivation, offering a novel approach to improving outcomes for vulnerable preterm infants.

Manik Djelantik (UMCU), Lynn Boschloo (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – The heterogeneity of psychopathology in children with 22q11 deletion syndrome

22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is a genetic disorder affecting 1 in 4,000 live births, often leading to various physical malformations, mild intellectual disability, and a wide range of psychiatric outcomes, including developmental and psychotic disorders. Despite sharing the same genetic deletion, psychiatric outcomes in individuals with 22q11DS vary significantly. Traditional classification methods in psychiatric research often oversimplify this complexity by focusing on specific diagnoses or symptom scores. The proposed research, led by Manik Djelantik and Lynn Boschloo, aims to explore the complexity of psychiatric symptoms in 22q11DS children using advanced network estimation techniques to uncover patterns of symptom interrelations and the influence of environmental and etiological factors.

Hilde Schuiringa (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Roos Leenhouts (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Hanne Duindam (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Jessica Asscher (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Paul van der Heijden (Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud), Sanne Nijhof (UMCU), Odilia Laceulle (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Shifting the spotlight: Understanding personality pathology in adolescent boys

This project examines personality pathology in adolescent boys, an area that has been largely overlooked, with past research focusing mainly on girls or externalized behaviors like aggression. Recognizing that personality pathology affects life satisfaction and long-term well-being, the project employs the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD) to assess maladaptive traits in a dimensional way. It involves two studies: (1) testing the PID-5-BF-NL questionnaire’s validity for boys with externalizing behaviors, and (2) exploring the relationship between maladaptive traits and life satisfaction in boys with either internalizing or externalizing issues. This research aims to inform more tailored interventions for adolescent boys.

Laura Smorenburg (Humanities), Marijke Achterberg (Veterinary Medicine), Elanie van Niekerk (Humanities), Aoju Chen (Humanities), Wolfram Hinzen (Language Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra) – Beyond words: The Use of Prosody by Children and Adolescents with Non- or Minimally Verbal Autism

This project seeks to study prosody—variation in pitch, duration, and intensity of vocalizations—in individuals with non- or minimally verbal autism (NMVA), a group often excluded from autism prosody research. While prosody aids communication, its role in NMVA remains largely unexplored. Using an existing dataset, the research aims to map prosodic patterns in children and adolescents with NMVA, addressing two questions: (1) identifying distinct prosodic features across vocalization types, and (2) understanding prosody’s use in social interactions. This study may reveal if prosodic patterns align with innate communicative cues or native language acquisition, potentially advancing supportive interventions for NMVA individuals.

Michiel van Harskamp (Science), Andrik Becht (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Sander Thomaes (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – A mixed-methods view on young people’s efficacy of environmental influence

This research project explores how young people’s climate-related emotions, like worry, impact their environmental self-efficacy (belief in their ability to influence climate change) and pro-environmental actions. Using a mixed-methods approach, the project combines quantitative data from surveys on adolescents’ self-efficacy and environmental engagement with qualitative data from classroom discussions and interviews. By examining students with different levels of self-efficacy, researchers aim to uncover patterns in how these students interact and cope with climate emotions. The findings could help teachers support diverse needs in sustainability education, offering a holistic view of the psychological factors driving pro-environmental behavior.

George Downward (UMCU), Yongliang Zhang (Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences), Joyce Brown ( UMCU & REBO), Robert Davis (Center for Biomedical Informatics, University of Tennessee) – Application of Metabolomics in the SPOT study for Maternal and Child Health Risk Prediction – SPOT PM.

This project focuses on using metabolomics data from the Severe Pre-eclampsia Adverse Outcome Triage (SPOT) study in Ghana to identify predictive biomarkers for adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. By combining metabolomics with personal, environmental, and health data, the aim is to uncover early risk factors for pregnancy complications and early life outcomes. Unlike traditional, expensive, and invasive diagnostic methods, metabolomics enables the analysis of numerous compounds from a simple blood sample, potentially offering a cost-effective and accessible alternative. The SPOT study’s existing database, which includes environmental and health data, will be used to identify metabolomic profiles linked to poor pregnancy outcomes, with initial pilot analyses laying the foundation for future research.

Sönke Hendrik Matthewes (REBO), Meta van der Linden (Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences) – The effects of separate preparatory school classes on refugee children’s educational attainment, social-emotional development and socio-cultural integration

Europe, particularly Germany, has seen a significant rise in asylum seekers, with around one-third being minors. Integrating refugee children into the school system is crucial for their social and economic integration. However, this process is challenging due to language barriers, learning gaps, and trauma from their experiences. Germany often uses separate preparatory classes to teach refugee children German before integrating them into regular classes. While these classes help with language skills, they may hinder educational achievement, as seen in a study by Höckel & Schilling (2022). The proposed project seeks to explore the broader impacts of these classes on mental health, social integration, and long-term educational and occupational aspirations.

Stefan Vukojevic (Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance) – Building a DoY-NCO network

This project focuses on the use of the Dutch National Cohort Study on Education (NCO) to study educational inequality from early childhood through adolescence. The NCO is a large-scale, registry-based dataset that tracks student assessments from grade 1 through secondary school and is linked to parental background data from national registries. The project supports a young researcher in conducting original research and aims to build a DoY-NCO research community by introducing other scholars to the dataset, fostering collaboration, and addressing methodological challenges together.

Anne Smit-van Beveren (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Susan Branje (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Jorg Huijding (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Johannes Noordstar UMCU/WKZ) – Fostering Inclusion in Schools for Youth Facing Mental Health Challenges

This project examines the effectiveness of a pilot program called ‘Trajectklassen,’ implemented by SterkVO in 15 high schools in Utrecht. The program targets students who are temporarily unable to attend their regular classes due to mental health issues. The goal is to provide tailored support in a specialized classroom, helping students reintegrate into their regular classes and avoid dropouts or transfers to special education. The project will assess whether students’ psychosocial and academic adjustment improves during their time in the trajectory classroom and whether it helps them remain at their school. The findings will guide the long-term integration of this support model in schools.

Anouk Smeekes (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Andrik Becht (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Karlijn van den Broek (Geosciences) – Developmental Dynamics of Climate Anxiety and Climate Hope of Dutch Youth: Implications for Pro-Environmental Behavior and Mental Health

This project aims to investigate the emotional responses of Dutch youth (ages 12-25) to climate change, focusing on climate anxiety and climate hope. The study will extend an existing cross-sectional study into a longitudinal one, examining how these emotions develop over time and influence pro-environmental behavior and mental health. The project will map the development of climate anxiety and hope, explore youths’ perceptions of the factors driving these emotions, and analyze how they relate to perceived climate threats, efficacy beliefs, and pro-environmental identity. Ultimately, the study seeks to understand the complex interplay between these emotions and their impact on youth engagement with climate issues.

Tim Takken (UMCU), Olav Versloot (HU), Johannes Noordstar (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Summerschool Paediatric Sport & Exercise Medicine 2024

The Summerschool in Paediatric Sport & Exercise Medicine provides a comprehensive overview of the role of exercise in both healthy children and those with chronic conditions. The program covers key topics in paediatric exercise physiology and the use of exercise as medicine. Participants engage in practical sessions on fitness testing, training, and physical assessments. The content reflects current research from the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital and other centers, with additional insights from external experts, emphasizing the value of exercise in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.

Tjitske de Groot (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Onderwijs Research Dagen (ORD)

At the Onderwijs Research Dagen (ORD), two projects are presented: one on raising algorithmic awareness among youth (“Filterbubbel”) and another on fostering dialogue skills in higher education through a digital platform (“Grip op polarisatie”). The conference offers opportunities to share insights, connect with peers, and explore future collaborations.

Zoë Rejaän (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Inge van der Valk (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Rianne van Dijk (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Charlotte Mol (Law, Economics and Governance) – KENNiS congres 2024

KENNiS organized a small conference on the theme of connection—between researchers, practitioners, and research and practice—in the context of divorce and separation. The event brought together youth and adult care professionals, educators, and policymakers to identify knowledge gaps, share best practices, and strengthen collaboration in this field.

Invigoration Grants

Sander Bakkes (Science), Stefanie Nelemans (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Heidi Lesscher (Veterinary Medicine), Julian Frommel (Science) – Shoulder-to-Shoulder: How Pinball Supports Emotional Self-Disclosure of Children

The present research connects to the recent sharp deterioration in youth’s mental health in general, and a substantial increase in emotional problems among youth. The HBSC 2021 report particularly highlights the importance of good social relationships to cope with the challenges of contemporary life. Crucial for establishing such social relationships is emotional self-disclosure; enabling peers to provide support for challenges that an individual may experience. A context that is supportive for mental health, in fact, is pinball. For the present research, the potential that pinball provides for emotional self-disclosure is further investigated. The proposed research builds upon a dataset of in-depth semi-structured interviews with pinball enthusiasts.  Also, the proposed research builds on existing methods that analyze qualitative data to code for self-disclosure. Finally, the research leverages tools and expertise from the UU Department of Information and Computing Sciences on the automated aggregation, principal component analysis, and computational modeling of multimodal behavioural data – for the creation of a new, rich dataset of child play interactions.

Lotte Gerritsen (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Stefanie Nelemans (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Marijke Achterbeg (Veterinary Medicine), Anne Marieke Doornweerd (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – The role of hormonal contraceptive use on adolescent stress reactivity and subsequent anxiety and depressive symptom trajectories

Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development of internalizing behavior problems, such as depression and anxiety. While rates of these symptoms are generally low in childhood, they increase to near-adult prevalence levels in adolescence. Moreover, girls experience internalizing symptoms twice as often as boys. Hence, it is crucial to get a better understanding of what makes adolescent girls more susceptible to develop mood and anxiety symptoms and disorders. The overarching aim of the current proposal is to gain novel nuanced insights into the (neurobiological) nature of the association between adolescent oral contraceptive (OC) use, adolescent stress-reactivity, and females’ anxiety and depressive symptom trajectories into young adulthood by applying a longitudinal indirect effects/mediation model. Data from the RADAR-study (https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zrb-v5wp; UU Department of Youth & Family) will be used, building the recent collaborative study between some of the applicants of this proposal on adolescent hormonal contraceptive use and mood and anxiety trajectories.

Frans Adriaans (Humanities), Heysem Kaya (Science), Anika van der Klis (Humanities) – Linguistic and paralinguistic characteristics of Dutch infant-directed speech and early infant vocalizations: a computational perspective

When adults speak to infants, they change the way they speak. For example, adults start speaking at a higher pitch and use wider intonation contours. It is currently unclear whether these speech modifications help or hinder early language development. Recent research has focused on developing computational models that can resolve conflicting findings in this area. However, such models crucially need to be trained and tested on large annotated datasets of infant-directed speech, and such datasets are currently not widely available. One complication in the creation of new datasets is that the particular speech characteristics pose a challenge for automated annotation tools that can facilitate the time-consuming process of data annotation. The current project aims to make both theoretical and practical advancements in the study of early language development by producing a new version of an existing dataset containing Dutch infant-directed and adult-directed speech, as well as vocalizations by 18- and 24-month-old infants (Han, 2019, Utrecht University).

Arjen Koppen (Medicine), Gonneke Stevens (Social and Behavioural Sciecnes), Saskia Rietjens (Medicine), Margreet de Looze (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Sebastianus Oude Ophuis (Medicine) – Multidisciplinary integrative approach to investigate trends in adolescent mental health

The goals of this study are threefold: 1. Getting a deeper understanding of the decline in mental health between 2001 and 2022 among young people in the Netherlands, by age and gender, by analyzing and linking data from three data sources, which are complementary in terms of the informant used and severity of mental health problems; 2. Understanding potential links between recently observed increases in perceived schoolwork pressure, emotional problems and hyperactivity-inattention problems and the use of methylphenidate among young people by combining self-report and national level data. 3. Actively stimulating linkages between different data sources and create multidisciplinary research groups to interpret the available data on young people’s mental health. This includes intensifying the collaboration between the involved research groups from Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht by sharing our data and expertise, but it also entails reaching out to potential local partners and data sources in Utrecht, such as from Spoor030 and KOOS. These organizations are responsible for the care of children with mental health problems in the municipality of Utrecht.

Marolijn Vermande (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Kris de Jaegher (Law, Economics and Governance), Prof. Dr. E.H.M. Sterck (Science) – Cooperation of children and students in a Stag Hunt game

Cooperation is a fundamental aspect of human behavior and society, often studied using economic games that simplify complex decision-making situations. The Stag hunt game is a realistic model for studying mutualistic cooperation, where two players must choose between Stag or Hare to maximize their rewards.

The present study compares strategies of 6-9-year-old children and college students in a Stag hunt game with and without prior training on the reward structure. The study also explores the influence of communication, gender, and relationship type between players, as well as the impact of communication on successful coordination in college students.

Additionally, an abstract version of the game was developed for college students, and both communication-allowed and communication-not-allowed conditions were studied. The study aims to shed light on how different factors affect cooperation strategies in the Stag hunt game. Since June 2023 the data collection is complete and the recordings have been coded. The granted funding goes to preparing and analyzing the data and writing a manuscript.

Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Pauline Slot (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Olaf Verschuren (UMC Utrecht), Eline de Groot (Humanities) – Caregivers’ beliefs and knowledge about infant sleep at the (medical) daycare – A cross-cultural comparison

The current study will analyze caregivers’ beliefs, practices, and knowledge regarding infant sleep with self-reports, as well as the actual sleep of infants and the observed interaction quality in the daycare center. The study will use the same instrument used in a similar study at the Bar-Ilan University in Israel, meaning that a cross-cultural comparison with the Israeli context can be conducted. In addition, the study will differentiate between infants with and without additional care-needs by including regular daycare centers and medical daycare centers (MKDs) to see if any differences exist between the practices and beliefs surrounding sleep of infants with additional care-needs between these two settings. Given the importance of sleep and the wide use of daycare in infancy, the insights gained in this study can be used to improve sleep quality across contexts, also for infants with additional care-needs.

Itir Önal Ertuğrul (Science), Roy Hessels (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Automated assessment of internalizing and externalizing behavior of children from parent-child interaction videos

Current methods to assess mental disorders depend almost entirely on clinical interviews and self-report scales, with clinical interviews considered the gold standard. These methods may be supported by recent technological innovations that allow the efficient and objective assessment of nonverbal behaviors, which can be strong indicators of the presence of mental disorders. Such automated assessment of mental disorders from multimodal behavioural cues has become an important topic in the field of affective computing.
The current work aims to automatically assess internalizing and externalizing behavior in children, including symptoms of anxiety, depression, and aggressive behavior, using facial expressions, head dynamics, and eye gaze data from parent-child interaction videos. For this the CHDUALET dataset collected within the scope of YOUth Study will be used.
The key goals are to develop an AI-based system for automated assessment and interpretation of nonverbal behaviors related to children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior.

Tim Takken (Medicine) – Summerschool Paediatric Sport & Exercise Medicine 2023

Sport and Exercise are important for typically developing children as well as for children with chronic disease. This Summerschool provided a thorough introduction to pediatric sport and exercise medicine. During the week, the current evidence regarding clinical pediatric exercise physiology and the role of exercise as medicine was summarized. Moreover, skills were practiced regarding anthropometrics, physical activity, fitness testing, and fitness training. Speakers were from the UMCU, Veterinary Medicine, and Hogeschool Utrecht.

Shanshan Bi (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Travel grant to attend the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) 2023 Annual Meeting

At the conference, Shanshan will present her research on “Changes in Late Adolescents’ Trust Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic” as part of a joint Flash Talk session with five other researchers from other international universities. This collaboration demonstrates the significance of bringing together researchers from different backgrounds to address pressing issues affecting youth. In addition, with its theme of “Keeping Pace with a Changing World,” the conference program focuses on adolescent development and includes engaging presentations, thought-provoking discussions, and informative poster sessions that will provide opportunities to connect with leading international researchers and scholars in the field.

Gaëlle Ouvrein (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Travel grant to attend the 73e conference of the International Communication Association (ICA)

Gaëlle Ouvrein will present her recent work on adolescent development and social media at the annual conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) in Toronto, which is the largest communication sciences conference in the world. By presenting her research as a communication scientist active in an interdisciplinary group, she can showcase the importance and relevance of the interdisciplinary approach and further promote it. By starting her presentation from a clear problem in youth development (i.e., online aggression toward famous people), she can illustrate the challenge-based approach and prove the clear commitment to improving youth development by working across disciplines.

Dzhansel Karakash (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Travel Fund Application for ECDP 2023

Dzhansel Karakash applied for a travel fund to attend the European Conference on Developmental Psychology (ECDP) in Turku, Finland. The findings of her research on the intergenerational transmission of negative parenting behaviors will offer important knowledge on intergenerational transmission, as the study will use data from different generations collected in a period of over 20 years. This work also fits very well within the Dynamics of Youth community Early Childhood and Thriving and Healthy Youth. Sharing and discussing the results with international experts will not only be important for receiving expert input on the results and implications but will also greatly contribute to the visibility of our work internationally.

Thomas van Huizen (Law, Economics and Governance) – Research visit University of Oslo – EQOP/CREATE

The application concerns a grant to fund a short research stay (3 weeks) at the University of Oslo hosted by Henrik Zachrisson, whom received funding for a Centre of Excellence (CREATE-Centre for Research on Equality in Education). In terms of aims and mission, the new Centre for Excellence is closely related to Dynamics of Youth. Multidisciplinary and societal impact are key features of the Centre. It is therefore relevant to be connected to this Norwegian Centre for Excellence. The Norwegian centre focuses on early childhood and education; there is therefore a clear link with research within the DoY communities early childhood and youth education & life skills.

Anneloes van Baar (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Development First! Acquiring participants who are NOT highly educated

Through ‘Zwangerenportaal’ it will be possible to ask parents living in postcode areas where many people live without high education levels, to participate in our study ‘Development First!’. In this way, norms for the Ages and Stages Questionnaire can be created. If the number of participants of parents who have a low or medium level of education is increased, norms for the Dutch population can be created.

Elma Blom (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Frank Wijnen (Humanities), Mireille Bekker (Medicine) – Validating the Buikpraat ap for young and vulnerable mothers

‘Buikpraat’ is an accessible, non-institutional platform that helps mothers to engage with their child before and after giving birth (first 1000 days), primarily through practical exercises (e.g. deliberately using speech and song directed at the fetus in the 3rd trimester). In light of the available evidence, this is expected to have a positive effect on attachment. ‘Buikpraat’ is conceived as a platform that will be especially helpful for (expectant) mothers who are, for various reasons, vulnerable. The effectiveness of ‘Buikpraat’ will have to be determined by means of a large-scale (quasi-)experimental study. The present application concerns a small-scale, qualitative study that needs to be done in preparation of an intervention study. The primary aim is to determine whether the services and functionality of the ‘Buikpraat’ app match the need profiles of expectant mothers that have been established during the design phase.

Tessel Boerma (Humanities), Elma Blom (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Caroline Junge (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Jacqueline van Kampen (Humanities), Anika van der Klis (Humanties), Ora Oudgenoeg-Paz (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Elena Tribushinina (Humanities), Emma Verhoeven (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Merel van Witteloostuijn (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – TOK-dag 2023 in Utrecht: a day devoted to language development in children

On November 10th, Utrecht University hosted the 2023 edition of the TOK-dag (“TaalOntwikkeling Kinderen in Nederland en Vlaanderen”). This yearly event connected all researchers and professionals interested in the language development of children, aiming to exchange ideas and experiences, gain inspiration, and facilitate networking.

Stefanie Nelemans (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Adolescent Loneliness from an Interdisciplinary Perspective: A Research Visit and Symposium

This proposal concerned the international research visit for an early career researcher, who was co-supervised as a co-promotor/daily supervisor by a DoY researcher (i.e., the main applicant), and the organization of an interdisciplinary DoY symposium on the topic of loneliness in youth. The key goals for this ‘project’ were:

(1) Facilitating intensive collaboration between the visiting PhD student and the main applicant on her ongoing interdisciplinary study, in which the visiting PhD student aimed to elucidate a biological mechanism (i.e., stress-reactivity) through which DNA methylation might affect the development of adolescent loneliness;
(2) Strengthening existing and initiating new (multi-/interdisciplinary) collaboration(s) between DoY researchers on the development of youth loneliness and neurobiological mechanisms underlying youth psychosocial adjustment, involving the visiting PhD student. This strongly contributed to the professional development of the visiting PhD student and strengthened multi-/interdisciplinary collaboration(s) within DoY;
(3) Organizing an interdisciplinary DoY symposium on loneliness in youth that brought together DoY researchers on this specific topic, as well as connected L-C&Y and DoY researchers. The visiting PhD student presented her work at this symposium.

Bruce Mutsvairo (Humanities) – Symposium Youth and Digital Platforms: Vocalizing Voices from the South

On January 29th, 2024, this symposium discussed the role of social media platforms in connecting young people worldwide. While research on digital platforms in the Global South has improved over the last five years, very little is known about the impact that social networks are having among the youths in economically poorer regions of the world. In line with the Dynamics of Youth research community “Becoming Adults in a Changing World,” this international symposium and its supporting outputs, including a special edited issue and a series of news articles, provided a platform for practitioners and researchers from different disciplines, both within UU and beyond, to discuss and exchange knowledge, thoughts, and insights, and ultimately facilitated the open exchange of ideas on this very important topic.

Invigoration Grants

Frank Wijnen (Humanities) and Elise de Bree (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Improving Spontaneous Language Analysis: Identifying False Starts Automatically

The prevalence of developmental language delays in children is estimated at 25%. Such delays can be due to (quantitatively and/or qualitatively) insufficient spoken language input. This project will work on the improvement of SASTA. SASTA is an application with the aim to improve and accelerate the assessment / diagnosis of developmental language delays and disorders (and also of acquired language disorders in adults [aphasia]), as well as monitoring language progress. Accurate diagnoses that can be attained within a limited time span will help improve the quality of language interventions in clinical (therapy) and educational (remediation) settings. The goal of this project is to make SASTA able to automatically detect and repair false starts in order for the linguistic analysis of spontaneous language sessions with children and patients to be more accurate.

Joost de Laat (Law, Economics and Governance), Joyce Browne (Medicine) and Maria van der Harst (Law, Economics and Governance) – Self-efficacy and goal setting among adolescent Roma mothers: learning from a nurse family home visiting program in Bulgaria

Vulnerable first-time mothers worldwide lack access to the resources, support and health care needed to achieve good health and wellbeing for themselves and their child. This includes young Roma women in Europe, a particularly disadvantaged group. While there has been growing research on self-efficacy (for instance in educational achievement), there is still little known about self-efficacy and its potential as a protective factor among disadvantaged adolescents (Hamill 2003), how it relates to resilient behaviors in response to adversity (Cassidy 2015), and how it can be nurtured. The goal of this project is therefore to deepen our understanding on the manifestations, determinants, and impacts of self-efficacy and goal-setting among first-time vulnerable Roma mothers and their young children.
 

Open Call

Rengin Isik Akin (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Travel Fund Application for EARA2022

The aim of this proposal is to apply for a travel fund for the EARA2022 (European Association of Research on Adolescence Conference) in Dublin, Ireland. Rengin’s research focuses on how family relationships in late adolescence and early adulthood are intertwined with the transition to move out of the family house. Rengin examines both the family predictors of moving out and the consequences of moving out for family relationships, in two cultures, Turkey and The Netherlands. At EARA2022, Rengin presented findings from her most recent analyses on the data she collected in Turkey with Turkish adolescents. By understanding the opportunities and challenges associated with home-leaving and the effects on family relationships and young individuals’ well-being may shed light in how to support both youth and their families before and after important life transitions.

Willy Sier (Social and Behavioural Sciences) – Book & grant writing mobility grant Dream Chasers: Rural Chinese students in urban universities

This fund supports a 2-month writing and research period in Paris for Willy Sier, where she have been invited by Professor Catherine Capdeville-Zeng at the Institute National des Langues et Civilationes Orientales (INALCO). Willy Sier will spend two months in Paris working on her book Dream Chasers: Rural Chinese students in urban universities in an inspiring environment, while at the same time discussing future research collaborations with China scholars at INALCO which will form the basis of an application for a FIAS research grant in March 2023.

Andrik Becht (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Tim Favier (Geosciences) and Eco-schools Nederland (Societal partner) – Developing and piloting a questionnaire to understand adolescents’ ecological identity development and pro-environmental behaviors: A co-creation with teachers and students

This interdisciplinary research project was sparked by a personal concern by Andrik Becht about our natural environment and a meeting with the coordinator of Eco-Schools Netherlands (the societal partner in this project) where we talked about effective ingredients to stimulate adolescents’ pro-environmental behaviors (e.g., shifting to a plant-based diet). Many of Eco-Schools teachers’ struggle with questions of when and how they can best motivate their students to show more pro-environmentally friendly behaviors. Preliminary evidence in adult samples suggest that ecological identity – the extent to which environmentalism is an important part of the self – positively impacts pro-environmental behaviors. Yet, empirical evidence on the role of ecological identity in stimulating pro-environmental behaviors in adolescents is limited. The main goal of this interdisciplinary research project is therefore to increase our understanding of the role of ecological identity to stimulate adolescents’ pro-environmental behaviors.