PhD Candicate
Emma received her double BSc in Social and Cognitive Neurobiological Psychology at Utrecht University. Her Bachelor’s thesis focused on the effects of oral contraceptives on empathy. Emma graduated cum laude with a MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience from Radboud University. In her Master’s, she investigated which cognitive processes underly changing pupil dynamics with respect to cognitive effort evaluation, supervised by Dr. Ceyda Sayalì and Prof. Dr. Roshan Cools. Then, she joined Erno Hermans’ lab as a research assistant. In 2023, she began working as a PhD candidate under the supervision of Prof. Erno Hermans and Dr. Eliana Vassena. In her PhD project, her interests in stress, resilience, motivation, and learning capacities come together. Her research focuses on the roles of dopamine and noradrenaline under acute stress, and on how effort‑based stress avoidance is influenced by environmental controllability. Her personal interests span from science to art and sports. Outside the lab, Emma enjoys singing, reading, hockey, and hiking.