Sietske van Viersen is a researcher and lecturer at the department of Development & Education of Youth in Diverse Societies (DEEDS). Her research focuses on the development of literacy and numeracy, with a special interest in neurodiversity (literacy and numeracy problems, dyslexia/dyscalculia, giftedness). She is involved in various research projects, including fundamental and more applied research. The common goal of these projects is to bridge theory and practice and to contribute to tailored support for children with and without learning disabilities to foster optimal development. Based on her expertise, Sietske editorial board member for Journal of Learning & Instruction, executive guest editor of a special issue on Resilience in Learning, and reviewer for various scientific journals. She is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board on Dyslexia of the NKD.

Sietske regularly presents about her work at conferences for professionals and parents (Lexima, SDN, Congres Hoogbegaafdheid 2023) and contributes to magazines for professionals (Gifted@248, Lexima magazine, Remediaal, Talent). Open Science is an important focus to make her research accessible to both fellow researchers and professionals. All her projects are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework.

In addition to her research, Sietske teaches in the bachelor Pedagogical Sciences (coordinator of the elective course Inclusive Education and Tailored Care), the master Clinical Child, Family, and Education Studies (master's thesis and internship), and the research master Educational Sciences (coordinator of EdSci6 - Learning and Individual Differences, Edsci thesis supervisor). Sietske is also chair of the Examination Committee for the bachelor Pedagogical Sciences and representative on behalf of DEEDS in the U(H)D council.

As (joint) principal investigator, Sietske is involved in the project Resilience in Reading (RiR, workload PhD project awarded to Sietske van Viersen & Sara van Erp). Within this project, she is co-promoter and daily supervisor of a PhD candidate who studies the methodological and statistical preconditions for conducting effective research into academic resilience in literacy. In addition, Sietske supervises a PhD candidate in collaboration with Anouke Bakx (RU) within the context of the POINT academic field labs. This PhD candidate is working on various (for now separate) studies on literacy problems and dyslexia in gifted children that will ultimately form a dissertation. Sietske also supervises teachers during their practice-oriented research within the academic field lab POINT Zaanstreek.

In 2024, Sietske received a starter grant in collaboration with Merel van Witteloostuijn. This grant will be used to investigate which factors contribute to the successful development of literacy in children with Developmental Language Disorder. Unfortunately, this grant was recently cancelled due to government budget cuts. Sietske is also working on an international project on Orthographic Learning, in which she is responsible for the Dutch branch. Her Rubicon project is also ongoing, as are three projects with meta-analyses on literacy and the role of intelligence.

Background

Sietske van Viersen studied at Utrecht University, where she completed her bachelor Pedagogical Sciences and research master Educational Sciences: Learning in Interaction (cum laude) incl. clinical track in 2013. In 2017, Sietske defended her doctoral dissertation entitled 'The Only Way is Up: Risk factors, protective factors, and compensation in dyslexia' at the University of Amsterdam (1st funding stream). After her doctoral research, Sietske worked as a Postdoc at the University of Amsterdam (1st funding stream) and as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oslo (NWO Rubicon project). Since 2022, Sietske has been working as an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University.