Project team
We are a team of psychologists and social scientists with a mission to understand and promote environmentalism in adolescents, in ways that resonate with their psychological needs. We believe in team science and collaboration as the cornerstone of discovery. We bring together diverse skills and perspectives to tackle the problems we are working on.
Prof. dr. Sander Thomaes is a full professor of developmental psychology and leads the GREENTEENS project. With his research, he addresses societal problems involving youth by targeting the psychological levers (e.g., needs, values, identities) that contribute to such problems.
Dr. Astrid Poorthuis is an assistant professor of developmental psychology, and member of the GREENTEENS team. With her research, she wants to find out how school practices, such as giving grades and school transitions, impact children's and adolescents' wellbeing and school engagement. With her participation in the GREENTEENS project, she hopes to gain insight into whether similar motivational processes are important for both school-related behaviour and eco-friendly behaviour.
Dr. Stathis Grapsas is a clinical-developmental psychologist and postdoctoral researcher in the GREENTEENS project. Stathis studies how youth’s emerging desires, self-views, and worldviews instigate their engagement with environmentalism over the course of development and across countries.
Judith van de Wetering is a PhD candidate in developmental psychology. Her research supports youth actualize their intrinsic drive to contribute to society. In the GREENTEENS project, she studies how environmentalism is connected to how adolescents view themselves and to what adolescents care for in their daily lives.
Jenna Spitzer is a PhD candidate on the GREENTEENS project. Through her research, She aims to understand how societies can support adolescents in realising their potential as they pass through this challenging but potent life stage. In the GREENTEENS project, she uses field experiments to promote adolescents’ pro-environmental behaviour in real-world settings.
Dr. Rezvan Ghoncheh is project manager of the GREENTEENS project. She currently coordinates the contact with diverse stakeholders.
Marije ten Den is a research master student in developmental psychology. She is interested in how the skills and needs specific to adolescence can contribute to environmental solutions. She works as a student research assistant on the GREENTEENS project.
Roel Sips is a bachelor student and works as a student assistant on the GREENTEENS project. He is interested in how to best motivate adolescents to act in a pro-environmental way. Email address: r.sips@uu.nl.