This year, the annual NSMD conference was linked to the anniversary conference of research school EPP (Experimental Psychopathology). During the two days (30 June and 1 July) at Castle Vaeshartelt near Maastricht, the conference looked back at 35 years of experimental psychology research and looked ahead to the future, in which the network approach that NSMD studies could play a role. The hundred or so participants were finally able to exchange ideas and experiences live again.
Originally planned for February this year, NSMD's annual conference was postponed to the summer due to corona. The combination with the anniversary of EPP, of which many researchers in the NSMD consortium are also members, proved to be a golden opportunity. The weather also cooperated nicely, except for a rain shower during the BBQ on Thursday evening.
The speakers
On Thursday, which focused on EPP, professors Peter de Jong (University of Groningen), Dirk Hermans (University of Leuven) David Clark (Oxford University) and Michelle Craske (University of California) gave their views on the development in the field and more specifically EPP. In addition, eight PhD students gave a glimpse of their research through a pecha kucha presentation of twenty slides, twenty seconds each: Bart Endhoven, Janniek Bragt-de Jong, Jente Depoorter, Leonardo Pimpini, Sanne van Doornik, Naomi Carpentier, Asimina Aslanidou and Cosima Nimphy.
Friday was all about NSMD and featured professors Han van der Maas (UvA), Richard McNally (Harvard University), Arnoud Arntz (UvA) and Anita Jansen with Anne Roefs (UM). Seven NSMD PhD students gave a pecha kucha talk: Myrthe Veenman, René Freichel, Gita Nadinda, Franziska Schutzeichel, Inga Marie Freund, Mado Ntekouli and Alberto Jover Martínez. Four PhD students chose to 'picnic' with their NSMD mentor during their lunch break. The closing panel discussion focused on questions such as: 'Can networks inform about causality, or do we still need experimental manipulations?' and 'What are the potential risks for personalising treatments to individual differences, and how do we deal with those risks?'
