Art can be a safe space to explore and change how you think about death. People do not like to think about death. Our research showed that movies about loss touched especially those viewers who were afraid to lose a loved one. They immersed in the story world especially when the movie provided closure to the loss. We also measured responses to the art installation ’This Body that Once Was You (Bakels & Mascini, 2020), in which visitors visualised their own death. We found that art can invite people to emotionally process their fear of death and appreciate life more.

The SSH field has made important advances in collecting digital trace data that individuals create in their daily lives. However, this wealth of data runs the risk of being closed off in local archives from universities due to concerns about how to handle, publish and/or share sensitive data. Leveraging the power of the Dutch National Research Infrastructure, RIGHTS addresses these challenges and ensures that these crucial datasets about human behaviour are made Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable in an ethical and privacy-protecting manner.

Can language help to solve communication challenges in consultations with patients presenting medically unexplained symptoms (MUS)? These symptoms are serious and not well understood. Although scholars have repeatedly ascertained the importance of doctor-patient interactions for establishing and handling MUS, previous research failed to involve a linguistic account of communication. This project will strengthen the link between medical and linguistic research on communication to define what good communication in terms of language encompasses. Medical research indicates that positive wordings would have therapeutic effects, but studies merely compare effects of messages with different contents (e.g. “it will sting a little bit” versus no warning message for medical procedures). Message content (what is said) and language (how it is said) are not distinguished. Yet, subtle language differences affect patients’ emotions and cognitions and thereby their quality of life and wellbeing. The aim of the proposed project is twofold. First, to capture how key linguistic elements are constructed during GP-patient interactions. Second, to analyse psychological mechanisms of language use variations affecting medical outcomes. The project will build towards a model that defines working mechanisms of language in medical interactions. Results will help to understand the construction and effects of language use in general practice consultations and will provide input for GP guidelines and education on what (not) to say.