Societal outreach & impact

We greatly enjoy investing in creative ways to engage society in science. We are passionate about sharing scientific knowledge and sparking society’s curiosity, through media interviews, video's, populair-scientific papers, blogs and public lectures.

Spraakmakers op NPO1

Can brain development during childhood predict how you deal with social rejection later in life? Michelle talked about the research of SO-REBEL at the radio program Spraakmakers (NPO1) and discussed the impact of social rejection in the brain and everyday life. 


Thanks to a Veni grant from the NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) talent program, Michelle can continue her research in the coming years - and hopefully we will learn even more about what exactly social rejection does to us, in the brain & in everyday life!

 

CID x New Scientist 

In September 2023 a special issue of New Scientist on the longitudinal research of the Consortium on Individual Development (CID) was launced. For this issue Michelle was interviewed as "Young Talent" and they talked about the research of SO-REBEL, Michelle's scientific and personal interests and the importance of longitudinal research:

 

"This kind of long-term research is incredibly valuable but requires a lot of patience. You literally have to wait for children to grow up. That is why I am happy to have been involved with the CID for over 10 years now. All the success of this consortium is due to a lot of smart people putting their heads together in order to work together."

Media appearances

Populair-Scientific publications (in Dutch)

Achterberg, M. & Hogenhuis, A. (2024). Sociale afwijzing in het brein en het dagelijks leven. Tijdschrift voor Orthopedagogiek, 2. click here for pdf (in Dutch) 

 

De Haan, A., Vreeker, A. & Achterberg, M. (2023). Pleidooi voor breder perspectief op jeugdzorg. Sociale Vraagstukken.click here for the article (in Dutch)

 

Achterberg, M. (2021). Lockdown-stress raakt kwetsbare pubers en ouders het hardst. Tijdschrift voor Orthopedagogiek, 60. click here for pdf (in Dutch)

 

Achterberg, M. (2022). Het puberbrein in beweging. Hersenontwikkeling en sociaal gedrag in relatie tot lichamelijke opvoeding. Lichamelijke Opvoeding Magazine, 9. click here for pdf (in Dutch)

Tweegesprek: Optimale Condities voor het Opgroeien van Kinderen

In dit tweegesprek gaat gespreksleider Michelle Achterberg samen met Károly Illy (kinderarts en lid van het Outbreak Management Team) en Prof. dr. Arne Popma (hoofd van de afdeling kindergeneeskunde en jeugdpsychiatrie bij Amsterdam UMC en voorzitter van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Psychiatrie: NVvP) in gesprek over optimale condities voor het opgroeien van kinderen en de lessen die ze hebben geleerd van de coronapandemie.

 

Dit tweegesprek was onderdeel van het Development Matters congres van het Leiden Consortium on Individual Development (L-CID) dat onderzoekt in hoeverre complexe sociale ontwikkeling samenhangt met een combinatie van de erfelijke aanleg van het kind en de omgeving waarin het opgroeit. Het L-CID programma investeert in fundamentele longitudinale studies die gericht zijn op de complexe en dynamische processen van sociale ontwikkeling.

 

"Smartphone Detox?!"

You only have to step into a train compartment or waiting room and you immediately know that you are not the only one who is stubbornly fused with his or her smartphone. Marit Metselaar from IDnl has therefore decided to start 2023 with a special detox session. No Dry January, but a January without a smartphone. No social media, no endless chatting back and forth, nothing. What does this actually do to your brain? In this video Michelle discusses the impact of social media on our brains (in Dutch).

TopDoks

Topdoks is a Dutch educational TV programme about science and technology. In this episode Mara van der Meulen and I are showing the presentor how the MRI works, and how the brain processes emotions

Child development and traffic safety

Together with Veilig Verkeer Nederland I developed short video clips with tips and tricks for parents regarding traffic safety and traffic education, based on solid scientific findings. There are four video's aimed at parents with children aged 0-4, 4-8, 8-12 and 12-16. The video's are in Dutch.  

I really liked working on this project and learned so much of it. I think this is a great example of how we can bridge the gap between scientific findings and practical implications for everyday life!

PhD thesis vlog

In this 7 minute video I highlight the most important findings of my PhD project!