Research grants:
Main applicant / Principal role in application and project coordination:
2018 UU Strategic Theme Dynamics of Youth (DoY) support for theme project “Healthy Play Better Coping”.
2017 Morris Animal Foundation pilot grant “Biomarkers for chronic stress as novel tools to assess cetaceans welfare”.
2015 Seed Grant from the UU Strategic Theme Dynamics of Youth (DoY) “The adolescent paradox: unravelling adolescent risk and resilience to alcohol use disorders”.
2015 TOP Grant from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development "Shining light on loss of control over substance and food intake".
2014 UU Strategic Theme Dynamics of Youth (DoY) support for Theme Coordinator “An interdisciplinary collaborative network to study addictive behaviours in youth: prevention, treatment, and policy”.
2011 Grant from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, Knowledge Utilization Grant 91501007 “Specific 14-3-3 zeta complex modulators for the treatment of alcoholism”.
2008 VENI grant from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, Innovative Research Incentives Scheme, Grant 91676134 “Involvement of the amygdala in the development of alcoholism”.
2007 Fellowship from the Brain Foundation of the Netherlands, Grant H06.08 “Alcoholism: neurobiological mechanisms and genetic susceptibility”.
2004 Outgoing International Fellowship, Marie Curie, Grant MOIF-CT-2004-002812 European Union “Amygdala CRF in reduced anxiety and alcohol consumption in PKCepsilon null mice”.
Co-applicant / advisor:
2018 Creatieve industrie - Kennis Innovatie Mapping (KIEM) grant “Dangerous Games: Deploying Game Design to Combat Drug-related Threats to Health and Public Order”. Advisor
2017 Amsterdam Brain and Cognition (ABC) grant “Unraveling adolescent resilience to alcohol: A parallel fMRI study in humans and rats”. Co-applicant.
2017 ZonMw Top Grant Off-Road “Light to fight addiction” awarded to K. Smolders, TU/Eindhoven. Advisor.
2016 Research Council of Norway funded project “Which brain projections are involved in natural reward?” awarded to Dr. E. Snoeren. Advisor.
2016 Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development VENI grant awarded to Sita ter Haar “Causal mechanisms of birdsong learning performance as a model of human speech and language acquisition” (Utrecht University). Advisor.
2014 Grant from the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand “Does a genetic alternation in serotonin transporter function predict compulsive alcohol use in rats?”. Co-applicant.
2011 Neuroscience and Cognition Utrecht, “Controlling behavior using optogenetics”. Co-applicant.
What can we do to feel more in touch with the natural world? Is technology a barrier, or can it help us communicate and feel empathy with other species? Could technology help foster a sense of community between humans and nonhumans? If so, what might such a more-than-human community look like—or feel like, smell like, etc.? Whom would it include? And who decides?
Our project sets out to imagine a more equitable community of humans and nonhumans and to make it a reality in our everyday lives. The project is animated by two basic premises:
How can we break out of our anthropocentric worldview? Drawing on our shared expertise in engineering, ethics, ethology, language and representation, we want to develop an escape room format that unites technology, sense perception, and creative problem solving to stimulate the more-than-human imagination. Ultimately, we would like to take this on the road, to engage playfully with students, academics, policymakers and stakeholders in a variety of (unusual) settings (animal sanctuaries, zoos, farms, robotics labs, etc.).
A playfully designed multimedia and multisensory more-than-human-community experience combined with facilitated discussions will enhance the collective insight in our own communities and strengthen the desire to look for multispecies alternatives for the challenges that societies face.
On 29 September 2023, the Imagining More-than-Human Communities team ran an experiment at the Betweter Festival in Utrecht. Attendees were invited to explore a new haptic interface and imagine what it would mean to interact with a nonhuman entity remotely via the medium of technology. We asked participants to reflect on how technology can help us feel more connected with the nonhuman world.