Since 2015, I have been working at the Department of Social, Health and Organizational Psychology at Utrecht University. The common thread in my work is the power of social relationships – whether between students in a classroom or colleagues in an organization.
In my teaching, I focus on team spirit and community building. How do you create a learning environment where students feel safe to learn together and to make mistakes? I frequently use experiential learning and formative assessment to support this goal.
My research centers on relationships within and with organizations – especially when those relationships are out of balance. What happens when trust breaks down? What does it take to restore social safety? And how can we build fair, sustainable collaboration in the long term?
I supervise PhD research on social safety in academia (Julia Houben, in collaboration with the Graduate School of Life Sciences) and on institutional trust (Michiel Kuik, in collaboration with the UWV). I am also involved in policy development on social safety at Utrecht University, and contribute to research that supports the supervision of psychosocial risks in the workplace, in collaboration with the Netherlands Labour Authority.