H. (Hanneke) Scholten, PhD

I’m an assistant professor and principal investigator at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology at Erasmus Medical Center, and co-director of the Games for Emotional and Mental Health (GEMH) lab. It is my mission to understand the world young people live in and to create or streamline digital experiences that matter to youth and improve their wellbeing. My first research line evolves around the design and evaluation of evidence-based interactive experiences – oftentimes games – that promote emotional resilience and behavior change for youth. In my second research line, I aim to understand how youths’ developmental needs and goals are served in today’s hybrid ecosystem.

Furthermore, I strive to implement scientifically proven products in the real-world to have an impact on as many youth as possible. I’m also a vocal proponent of the potential impact of interactive media on emotional and mental health. To this end, I have published my work in international journals and delivered over 70 presentations and workshops on this topic to audiences of diverse backgrounds, including the scientific community, parents, youth, teachers, designers, and psychologists.

In my current role at the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, I’m involved in several projects in which we use technology to assess young people’s experiences, emotions and behaviors at different timescales (e.g., momentary, daily, longitudinal). This information is then used to disentangle who might be in need of help and who is not. Additionally, we use this information to build prevention and treatment interventions – oftentimes digital – to promote youths’ wellbeing.

During my Research Master Behavioural Science (cum laude; 2014), PhD (cum laude; 2020) and postdoc at Radboud University, I integrated developmental science with game design to create playful experiences that promote resilience while improving youths’ wellbeing. I strongly committed to the inclusion of youth in the iterative co-design cycle and the systematic pre-registered scientific validation of these game interventions. In September 2020, I became an assistant professor at the department of Communication Science at the University of Twente, where I began a new research line focused on youth’ developmental needs and their wellbeing. Since then, I have worked on a theoretical model to map youths’ digital experiences and activities by using a range of quantitative and qualitative research approaches. In January 2024, I became principal investigator of digital health at the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology at the Erasmus MC; in this role I’m supervising several projects in which we use technology to identify and prevent the development of youth’ wellbeing and mental health problems. These projects are conducted with youth from the general population ranging to youth with psychological or somatic problems.

View my publications at this link.