Six research grants have been awarded to UvA PIs and researchers to facilitate the appointment of six PhD candidates at UvA who will each work within interdisciplinary research teams at UMH

A recent Open call for PhD projects by the Centre for Urban Mental Health at the University of Amsterdam has resulted in the awardance of six grants to newly formed research teams from across the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Sciences. The grants are to be allocated to the appointment of PhD candidates at UMH who will be performing their PhD studies during the second period of UMH (2024-2028). The candidates are expected to start their studies during the fall of 2024.

UMH will have Team science at its core in the coming years. Here, the three UvA faculties that are united in UMH will each be in the lead for an overarching theme. Per theme, two projects have been selected, with each project setup from at least two different departments.

The Open call resulted in a very strong set of applications, with each research proposal of relevance to UMH and its objectives. UMH would like to thank all applicants for their efforts and congratulate the teams who have successfully applied for a UMH-2 PhD grant.

Would you like to know more? Details on the six projects are listed below.

Theme 1  |  Lead: Faculty of Sciences (FNWI)

Urban stress and common mental health conditions, mechanisms, and effect of interventions

Awarded projects and main applicants

Exposure to cannabis during pregnancy; Transgenerational effects on the dopamine system, prefrontal cortex and stress coping behavior

Dr. Rixt van der Veen, FNWI-SILS, Brain Plasticity group

Prof. dr. Marten Smidt, FNWI-SILS, Molecular Neuroscience group

STRIDE-4-MH Project – Stress Tolerance and Resilience by Integrating Digital and Exercise training-based interventions for Mental Health of Dutch students

Dr. Joram Mul, FNWI-SILS, Fit Brain Lab and Brain Plasticity group

Dr. Sanne de Wit, FMG, Clinical Psychology and Habit Lab

Dr. Sascha Struijs, Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences (Vrije Universiteit), Clinical Psychology

Theme 2  |  Lead: Faculty of Medicine (FG)

Multilevel interventions for common mental health conditions and urbanicity

Awarded projects and main applicants

Designing Social Connection: Computer Modeling to Establish Quality Social Connections in Urban Mental Health Interventions

Dr. Nadia van der Spek, FG, Psychiatry

Dr. Mike Lees, FNWI-IvI, Computational Science Lab and IAS

Innovating interventions: A genetically informed multi-level framework for identifying and addressing substance (ab)use risk factors

Prof. dr. Karin Verweij, FG, Psychiatry

Dr. Saar Mollen, FMG, Communication Science

Dr. Margot van de Weijer, FG, Psychiatry

Theme 3  |  Lead: Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences (FMG)

Personalization of interventions for common mental health conditions and urbanicity

Awarded projects and main applicants

Understanding the Dynamics of Suicide: An Agent-Based Modeling Approach to Inform Intervention Strategies in an Urban Context

Dr. Derek de Beurs, FMG, Clinical Psychology

Dr. Valeria Krzhizhanovskaya, FNWI, Informatics Institute

MIND-CHAT: May I help you? An Intervention for Non-suicidal self-injury and Depression through a culturally-sensitive Chatbot

Dr. Nida Gizem Yilmaz, FMG, Communication Science

Prof. dr. Ellen Smets, FG, Medical Psychology and Amsterdam Public Health

Dr. Annemiek Linn, FMG, Health Communication