Climate change is one of the largest global problems, increasing the risk of mental health issues, especially among young people. However, little is known about risk perception of young people articulated on social media in the Netherlands. To gain insight in how young people perceive the risks of climate change in relation to mental health the research question ‘How do Dutch young people describe and respond to climate change risk information on social media and relate this to mental health issues, like anxiety and stress?’ is studied using social media analysis, focus groups and a survey study.

This study investigates how violent pornography influences perceptions of consent. By using AI-generated video stimuli, I aim to capture real-time cognitive and emotional responses to consent-related scenarios, offering a more accurate understanding of the effects of violent pornography. The research explores whether factors like desensitisation, attentional bias, and peer attitudes influence how individuals perceive consent. The findings will inform interventions and educational programmes to combat harmful stereotypes and improve understanding of consent in real-world sexual interactions, contributing to ongoing efforts to prevent sexual violence and promote healthy sexual behaviours.

Anxiety-related disorders involve overwhelming fear of harmless situations due to deeply rooted pathological threat beliefs. While exposure-based treatments can effectively reduce such fear in the short-term, one-fourth of clients experience a relapse of fear. This occurs because extinction learning, the core of exposure-based treatments, does not erase the original threat belief. Recent rodent research shows that a gradual extinction learning protocol may directly overwrite the threat belief, preventing fear from returning. This project will be the first to adapt this novel approach for humans and test its effectiveness, aiming to improve long-term treatment outcomes for anxiety-related disorders

Modern technology makes it possible to gather health data from a variety of sources and devices—like smartwatches that track exercise and sleep, period-tracking apps, and electronic health records. This data can be combined to, for example, drive research or train algorithms. But who gets to decide how it is used and under what conditions? Is it the individual, private companies, or the government? This research project explores, from a legal perspective, how individuals and institutions can cooperate to create democratic and inclusive models for collectively deciding how health data are used.

The Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) underlines the need to increase the digital and computational expertise in the research domain. This plan aims to use training on introductory and foundational skills to: - Raise the overall level of ‘tech-savviness’. - Collect input for developing a more comprehensive training and support offer, including research software engineering. - Collect leads for improving data interoperability in communities by providing support and making connections to experts. To maximise the impact of the small EUR team we intend to make extensive use of the (inter)national offer and integrate and align this with locally developed courses.