About

Throughout my academic career, I have been fascinated by the individual and how they develop and change with time. My education taught me to bring an interdisciplinary approach to everything I study, and this has honed my ability to think critically and view a problem from various angles before tackling it.

Curriculum Vitae

Postdoctoral researcher
Jan 2022 – Dec 2025

Universitetet i Oslo | Department of Psychology | Complexity in treatment Outcome, Psychopathology and Epidemiology (COPE) | Oslo, NO

In my postdoctoral work I intend to continue working on complex dynamical systems approaches to psychopathology, particularly in creating a better understanding of mechanisms of symptom change using intensive longitudinal data. The COPE research group has a great clinical expertise and focuses on studying the dynamics interwoven with the emergence and maintenance of psychological disorders and the optimization of psychological treatment.

Lab head: Dr. S. U. Johnson

Complexity in treatment Outcome, Psychopathology and Epidemiology (COPE)

The COPE acronym stems from its main areas of investigation. This includes the application and adaptation of complex systems (C) to improve the outcome (O) of psychological treatment, enhance the understanding of the mechanisms interwoven with the maintenance and emergence of psychopathology (P), and involvement in epidemiological (E) mental health studies on the non-clinical general population in order to enhance understanding on critical transitions to psychopathological states.

More information about the research group, an overview of the team members, and all publications related to the team can be found on the COPE website.

PhD candidate
Nov 2016 – Aug 2021

University of Groningen | University Medical Center Groningen | Interdisciplinary Center Psychopathology and Emotion regulation (ICPE) | Groningen, NL

Dissertation title: What's in a mood? Looking for dynamic predictors of individual improvement in depression.
[link]

Defended successfully on 2 February 2022, cum laude.

Topic: idiographic change in depression, particularly mood and symptom improvement during treatment captured as intensive longitudinal data. My PhD focused on understanding psychopathology from a complex dynamical systems conceptualization, and one of the core questions I have studied is whether early warning signals can be useful in detecting large symptom improvements in patients receiving treatment for depression.

My PhD research was conducted as part of the Transitions in Depression (TRANS-ID) project (expand for more info).

Promotors: Prof. dr. M. Wichers & Prof. dr. A. J. Oldehinkel
Co-promotors: Dr. E. Snippe & Dr. L. F. Bringmann

Transitions in Depression (TRANS-ID) Recovery

My PhD research falls under the larger Transitions in Depression (TRANS-ID) project. My share of the project, TRANS-ID Recovery, focuses on transitions towards symptom improvements, for which I have lead the data collection from May 2017 to May 2020.

The aim of the TRANS-ID Recovery project is to investigate whether we can find Early Warning Signals that signal imminent symptom changes, by looking for changes in the dynamics of moment-to-moment affect. In other words, if a patient's mood becomes more 'stuck' when comparing one moment to the next, or starts to fluctuate more strongly over time, we may expect that they are experiencing some kind of 'destabilization' that could lead to positive symptom change. Results are not in yet, but work is in progress!

More information about the project, an overview of the team members, and all publications related to the project, as well as (Dutch) lay summaries can be found on transid.nl.

I have also made various project materials available on the open science framework.

Research Master Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience
Sep 2013 – Aug 2015

Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience | Maastricht University | Maastricht, NL

Specialization in Psychopathology

Dissertation title: Daily life social engagement and theory of mind in schizophrenia.
Examination of social cognition and real life social functioning in psychosis patients and healthy controls.
Supervised by Dr. A.-K. Fett.

Research Internship
Nov 2014 - July 2015

Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience | King's College London | London, UK

Topic: investigation of social dysfunction and trust in schizophrenia using fMRI and experience sampling methodology.
Supervised by Dr. A.-K. Fett and Prof. S. Shergill.

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences
Sep 2010 – Aug 2013

University College Utrecht | Utrecht University | Utrecht, NL
Major in Psychology and a Minor in Philosophy and a Minor in Methods & Statistics

Dissertation title: Searching for Selfhood: the evolutionary road of the human mind.
Multidisciplinary literature research on consciousness and self-awareness in light of human brain evolution.
Supervised by Dr. F. A. C. Wiegant.

Exchange semester
Aug 2012 - Dec 2012

Nanyang Technological University | Singapore, SG

Courses taken at NTU counted towards the UCU curriculum.

Skills and competences

For more keywords, visit my Linkedin page →

Languages

I speak Dutch and English fluently, and I have a reasonable reading comprehension of German, French and Spanish. Starting to learn Norwegian.

I am also fluent in nonsense and sarcasm.

Programming

I write most of my scripts in R, but I have worked with Python, STATA, SPSS, MPlus, and Matlab as well.

Transferable skills

Creative problem-solving, detail-oriented, skilled at clarifying what is needed to make a decision.
Excellent written and spoken communication.
A flexible, empathetic team mate, who listens, and is willing and able to lead when needed.
Able to plan and keep organised, but also able to pivot priorities under time pressure.

Overall, a curious, motivated student of everything, with a sense of humour.

Memberships

Laura Bringmann's intensive longitudinal data Lab – LaBLab

Laura Bringmann's group (LaBLab) focuses on the methodology around intensive longitudinal data, with special attention to modeling change. Most of the group's work is related to mental health and well-being and a major focus is on understanding and developing intensive longitudinal modeling approaches for clinical practice. Thus, the group does not only collect data about affect and symptoms, but also the context around us, such as our social environment and social interactions.

Belgian-Dutch network for Experience Sampling Method (ESM) Research in Mental Health

The Belgian-Dutch network for experience sampling method research is a collaboration between five different universities in Belgium and in the Netherlands. The universities are collaborating to increase knowledge about the experience sampling method (ESM) in mental health research. By learning from each other, sharing knowledge and experience, cooperation and innovation are enhanced.

The Open Science Community Groningen

The OSCG aims to make research more accessible and reproducible by:

Facilitating Open Science Practices (through workshops, lectures, and materials on our website)
Connecting Open Science enthusiasts and uniting current Open Science initiatives
Stimulating responsible research practices and Open Science policies

Society for Ambulatory Assessment

The Society for Ambulatory Assessment focuses on research that assesses the ongoing behavior, physiology, experience and environmental aspects of people in naturalistic or unconstrained settings by using ecologically-valid tools to understand biopsychosocial processes as they unfold naturally in time and in context.