ABOUT

PhD

I obtained my PhD in Clinical Forensic Psychology at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

My Phd project focussed on investigating the effectiveness of using High-Definition transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) to increase empathic abilities, reduce aggression and modulate electrophysiological responses in a forensic sample.

 The results of this study demonstrate that we were able to reduce reactive aggression and modulate electrophysiological responses in this violent offender sample. 

During my PhD I had the amazing opportunity to cooperate on my last two papers of my dissertation with Dr. Emiliano Santarnecchi at Harvard Medical School in Boston, were I went for a 3 month work visit. In this period I also learned how to analyse resting-state electrophysiology and to code my own script in Matlab and EEGlab.

My passion for the aggressive brain resulted in my dissertation which can be found below. 

In my post-doc I will be working with prisoners that have a burglary offence.  I will be testing these offenders in four prisons in the Netherlands to investigate how they approach a street in virtual reality. With the use of eye-tracking there movements can be followed. 

 

PhD Dissertation

Understanding the Aggressive Brain: High-Definition transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) in reducing aggression and as a treatment intervention in forensic patients.

Innovative treatment

Besides my passion for the forensic field, I truly believe in non-medicative treatment and the innovative road that lays ahead of us.

The use of neuromodulation is something that I fully support, but recently also the use of psychedelic treatment gained my attention.

Therefore, I started as a volunteer in contributing to the implementation of psychedelic treatment in the Dutch mental health care with Open Foundation. 

Exciting Times To Be Alive

My most recent passion lays in the use of NFT’s (Non-Fundible Tokens) into contributing to the funding of science and the development of an open science environment. 

Everybody should be able to read articles and fund research projects that they want to support.

Therefore my latest project is the Neuroscience NFT Project. A  collection based on brain-modelling, electroencephalography and neuromodulation transformed into 3D rendered and moving art. There is still a lot to unravel in the processes underlying behaviour of forensic patients. With this collection we hope to further fund research into the fascinating brains of these patient groups and to enhance innovative treatment options. 

 

Synergy

Kraft und Licht

Next to all my scientific passions, I believe Music is an international language, therefore I am supporting my favorite open-minded event organisation in Amsterdam. 

 

They just openend a creative hub called Krafthaus to support local talent and help with struggles in young adolescent minds. Keep an eye out on this organisation, cause they care for the future.