From fellow to Young Talent: Tessa Blanken

Tessa Blanken is an Assistant Professor in Clinical Methodology in the departments of Clinical Psychology and Psychological Methods at the University of Amsterdam. In her research, she seeks to employ complexity science techniques to investigate societally and clinically relevant questions. During her PhD (Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience) she focused on the complex interplay between insomnia and depression, two of the most prevalent disorders in our time. When she started her postdoc early 2020 (University of Amsterdam), she temporarily shifted gears and used her methodological expertise to find behavioral solutions to mitigate the COVID-19 virus spread. Although the topics were vastly different, in both long-term projects she translated state-of-the-art scientific techniques, such as modelling and theory construction, to concrete research questions and designs. Now she integrates these experiences to investigate whether we can use system-based approaches to optimize and personalize insomnia treatment - seeking to connect scientific research to clinical practice.