Sanne Bruijniks works as an Assistant Professor at the department of Clinical Psychology at Utrecht University. In addition, she works two days a week as a psychologist at GGZ inGeest at a 'TOPGGz' department focused on treating major depressive disorder. She has close collaborations with the University of Freiburg and Altrecht GGZ, where she is running different patient studies. She received a B.Sc. in Psychology from Utrecht University, a M.Sc. in Clinical Psychology (research master + extra clinical courses and an internship for the 'LOGO-verklaring') at the University of Amsterdam and a M.Sc. in Epidemiology at VU Amsterdam. In 2021, she received her PhD 'Improving outcomes in psychotherapy for depression' with distinction at the VU Amsterdam. The same year a dissertation was awarded (the 'Pieter Boeke Prijs') for best psychotherapy dissertation in the Netherlands (2019-2021). After completing her PhD, she moved to Germany for three years (2019-2022) to work on a NWO granted Rubicon project at the University of Freiburg. 

Her research focuses on (experimentally) investigating:

• The effects of session frequency in psychotherapy for depression
• Mechanisms of change and moderators in psychotherapy for depression
• The role of individual learning processes on psychotherapy success
• Using memory support strategies to increase the effects of psychotherapy
• The role of therapy adherence and competence in psychotherapy outcomes