Prof Dr Lydia Krabbendam
Principle investigator and project supervisor
I am fascinated by the way children and adolescents learn to navigate the complex social world. This development is supported by marked changes in brain areas involved in social skills. I am particularly interested in the interplay between this brain development and changes in the social environment. For example, if you have many friends, does this fosteryour perspective-taking skills and the development of the associated brain areas and connections? I hope the project can answer questions like this. I am the principal investigator of this project, which means that I am involved in all aspects related to development and design, and responsible for the overall supervision.
I obtained my PhD in 2000 in cognitive neuropsychiatry at the Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, and continued working in that area for several years. Meanwhile, I obtained my clinical registrations as health care psychologist and clinical neuropsychologist. In 2009, I joined the Educational Neuropsychology group at the Department of Special Education here at the VU, broadening my research focus to include normal development. I also hold a Visiting Lectureship at the Department of Psychosis Studies of the Institute of Psychiatry in London.
Dr Nikki Lee
Postdoctoral researcher
Nikki Lee completed a BA in Social Sciences and an MSc in Neuopsychology at Maastricht University before going to Cambridge to earn an MPhil in Education. She then returned to the Netherlands to complete a PhD in Educational Neuroscience at Maastricht and the VU Amsterdam. Since then she has been a postdoc at the VU.
Miriam Hollarek
PhD researcher
Miriam Hollarek optioned a BA in Psychology at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and a Research-Master in Psychology at the University of Amsterdam. In March 2016 she started her PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam under supervision of Lydia Krabbendam. Her dissertation will completed within the SO CONNeCT project. She is interested the cognitive and social development from infancy throughout adolescence.
Reubs Walsh
PhD Resercher
Reubs Walsh completed a BA in Physiological Sciences at the University of Oxford in 2013, after which she went on to study an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychology at Birkbeck College, University of London. She has been involved in academic cognitive sciences since her teens and is now completing a PhD within this project.