Team
Vincent De Prez
Status: Phd researcher
Vincent De Prez obtained his Master of Science in Sociology in 2016 at the University of Ghent. For his master’s dissertation he conducted a European-wide comparative study on the link between societal inequality levels and individual subjective health perceptions, analogous with the literary tradition of Wilkinson and Pickett.
After obtaining his Master’s degree in Sociology, he obtained a Master in International and European Law (2017, Ghent University). The topic of his Master’s dissertation concerned European guidelines and regulations on alternative energy installations, within the broader framework of the EU 2020 strategy and the Paris Agreement.
In September 2018, Vincent started working as a PhD researcher at the University of Ghent. He conducts research on social inequalities in cancer prevention care and fundamental social causes. He works in collaboration with the Department of Sociology in Geneva.
Bibliography
https://biblio.ugent.be/person/802002029861
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Siyuan Chen
Status: Phd researcher
Siyuan Chen obtained a Master’s degree in Sociology from the East China Normal University (ECNU) in June 2019. His research interests include marriage and family, social determinants of health, and quantitative methods.
At present, supported by the scholarship from the China Scholarship Council (CSC), he is working on his Ph.D. research project under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Piet Bracke on education expansion and health disparities in contemporary China. He aims at understanding how education interacts with family dynamics and population processes in shaping social inequalities in health and well-being over the life course, cohorts and social contexts.
Bibliography
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Sam Gorleer
Status: Phd researcher
Sam Gorleer obtained his Master of Science in Sociology in 2015 at the University of Ghent. For his master’s thesis, he explored the socio-psychological drivers behind students’ mobile phone choices, while also examining the relationship between these identified drivers and the social background of the students. After obtaining his Master’s degree in Sociology, he obtained a Master of Science in Complementary Studies in Business Economics (2016, Ghent University). The topic of his master’s thesis was situated in the field of Social Economy.
After having started his career in market research (quantitative research), Sam started working as a PhD researcher at the University of Ghent in 2017. His research is situated in the field of Blood Economy and aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of the structural determinants of blood donation in Europe
Bibliography
https://biblio.ugent.be/person/802002762617
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Rubeena Slamat
Status: Phd researcher
Rubeena Slamat obtained her MPhil (Master of Philosophy) degree in Cultural Anthropology from Quaid-i-Azam University (Islamabad, Pakistan) in 2011. For her MPhil dissertation she investigated the socio-cultural perceptions about the provision of health care facilities for pregnant women in a village of Pakistan.
After graduation, she served as a Programme Officer in the NRSP (National Rural Support Programme, Pakistan) for more than three years. In that function, she was responsible for the administration of schools, the training of staff and the community, the inspection of flood affected areas and the WASH project. She also worked on a health insurance research project conducted by the University of Mannheim, in collaboration with the NRSP.
Rubeena is currently preparing a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Piet Bracke. Her research aims to uncover maternal health dynamics in the rural community of Punjab in Pakistan. In particular, she focuses on the impact of socio-cultural factors, the family and patriarchal structures on maternal health during the stages of pregnancy, birth, abortion and lactation.
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Piet Bracke
Status: Professor
Piet Bracke is a full professor at the Department of Sociology at Ghent University. He teaches general sociological courses at the undergraduate level – introduction in sociology, sociological research and methods – and more specialized master courses in the sociology of health and illness.
His research focuses on gender issues and the sociology of the family; on sociological epidemiology from a comparative perspective; and on mental health and mental health services. He and his collaborators are eager to contribute to the further development of institutional theories of population (mental) health.
Piet Bracke was appointed honorary professor in medical sociology at Nottingham University (2009-2012). In spring 2017 he is connected to the University of Geneva as NCCR LIVES Visiting scholar. He is a former president of the European Society of Health and Medical Sociology (ESHMS, 2010-2014), and a former member of the Board of Governors of Ghent University (2012-2014).
Research
Bibliography
https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801000676835
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Melissa Ceuterick
Status: Postdoctoral researcher
Melissa Ceuterick is a postdoctoral fellow at Hedera since 2017.
As a cultural anthropologist trained at Ghent University, Melissa has a background in qualitative research methods. Her PhD focused on the use and perception of traditional medicine among Andean migrants in the UK (University of Bradford, 2009). After working as a resident professor for Duke University’s Global Health program in Costa Rica (2012), she coordinated several applied research projects in the Flemish integration sector in the field of migrants’ health and wellbeing. During this time she co-edited “Bouwstenen voor een cultuursensitieve zorg- en welzijnsorganisatie” (Politeia, 2016).
Since 2021-’22 she is lecturer in charge of the third bachelor course Health Sociology of the Interuniversity Bachelor in Social Sciences (VUB-Ghent University). She is currently also in charge of the Seminar on Health Sociology and Social Demography, a course in the Dutch Master of Sociology (Ghent University), for which she supervises Community Service Learning projects. In addition she is co-teaching in the master course Sociology of Health and Illness (Dutch and English master programs in Sociology at Ghent University) and the bachelor course Societal impact of medications in the second bachelor in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Ghent University).
Her research interests include the nexus between 1) migration and mental health and 2) medication use and identity. As main researcher on the BELSPO funded projects BENZONET and BENZOCARE in collaboration with ULiège, she explores users’ and providers’ perspectives on long-term use of benzodiazepines.
In addition, she has been coordinating the FWO (Rode Neuzen Fonds) project 'A culturally-sensitive stigma survey' and was co-supervising the BELSPO funded REMEDI project, which builds on the previous 'Mind the Gate' study on general practitioners' decision-making regarding patients with mental health care problems.
She is supervising several PhD students with qualitative research projects on migrant health, stigma, maternal health and vaccination hesitancy.
Research
- BENZOCARE
- BENZO_NET
- FWO Rode Neuzen
- REMEDI
Bibliography
https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801001857306
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Marlies Bockstal
Status: Volunteer researcher/member
Marlies Bockstal obtained her Master of Science in Sociology in 2019 at the University of Ghent. For her master’s dissertation, she conducted a qualitative study that focused on the interactions between young children and their dogs in the family context.
In August 2020, Marlies started working at the University of Ghent as a junior researcher. She worked on two research projects: the FWO (Rode Neuzen Fonds) project ‘A culturally-sensitive stigma survey’ and the European VAX-TRUST research project.
Marlies is currently associated with the University of Ghent as a volunteering researcher. She is also a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Nik Taylor, as part of the New Zealand Centre for Human-Animal Studies at the University of Canterbury. Her PhD research is situated within the multi- and inter-disciplinary field of Human-Animal Studies. In her PhD research project, she will focus on the breeding practices of pedigree dogs, drawing from critical sociological, intersectional and (eco)feminist approaches.
Research
Contact
marlies.bockstal@pg.canterbury.ac.nz
Lisa Colman
Status: Phd researcher
In 2017 Lisa Colman graduated as a Master of Science in Sociology at Ghent University. For her master’s thesis, she analysed, using quantitative multilevel analyses, the relationship between divorces and the development of adolescent externalizing deviant behaviour within the school context. After these studies, Lisa started a second master in political science (international politics), which she obtained in September 2019. The topic of her second master’s thesis was about macroeconomic policy decisions, especially during the European debt crisis, and the link between European populism.
September 2019, she started as a teaching assistant at the Sociology department of Ghent University. She teaches workshops in sociological research, coordinates sociological courses, guides students in various individual- or group works and arranges the organisation of exams.
Currently, Lisa is preparing a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Piet Bracke. In her PhD, she will focus on the socioeconomic gradient in psychotropic medication use, and the excess-use of psychotropic medications. Quantitative analytical methods will be used to conduct this research.
Bibliography
https://biblio.ugent.be/person/802003236196
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Katrijn Delaruelle
Status: Postdoc researcher
Katrijn studied Sociology and completed her doctoral research at Ghent University, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Piet Bracke. Her PhD dissertation focused on the impact of educational expansion and educational systems on health inequalities between lower- and higher- educated individuals.
She currently works as postdoctoral research at both the Department of Sociology Ghent University and the University of Antwerp. She is involved in several projects, including REMEDI, VAX-TRUST, the FWO project on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on intergenerational relations and mental health, and the Red Nose project on loneliness in newly-arrived minors. Her research interests include the link between life course transitions, intergenerational relations, health and the macro-level context.
She is in charge of the master course "Sociology of Health and Illness", and co-teaching in the master courses "Global Health Challenges", "Seminar on Social Demography and Health Sociology" and "Interdisciplinary perspectives on work and health"
Research
Bibliography
https://biblio.ugent.be/person/000100313861
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Karen Vanderlinden
Status: Phd researcher
Karen Vanderlinden graduated as a sociologist at Ghent University in 2013. For her master thesis she investigated the connection between poverty and breastfeeding among natives and migrants in Belgium. After obtaining her master degree in sociology, she was employed as a teaching assistant. She teaches several courses for different subjects: Actuele Maatschappelijke Problemen (Contemporary Social Problems), Sociologisch Onderzoek II (Sociological Research: Methodology), Sociology van de moderniteit (Classic Sociology); organizes and coordinates workshops, mini-conferences and exams on a larger scale; grades papers in several stages to help ensure continuous feedback for students…
Karen is currently preparing a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Bart Van de Putte and Prof. Dr. Piet Bracke. The PhD thesis will build further on her master thesis. The central aim is to study breastfeeding from a sociological perspective, meaning that for her PhD the idea of having many breastfeeding ‘choices’ is put into question. Using an intersectional perspective, she studies several (social) axes; like poverty, education, gender, policies,… and the way they influence breastfeeding practices and patterns. At the end of her PhD she means to construct a large sociological and theoretical framework that shows the different kind of pathways in which women and mothers are guided to their feeding ‘choices’. Simultaneously, she will zoom out and take a broader look at general reproductive health profiles worldwide in order to tease out reproductive differences that are often overlooked in general health studies, but also to provide more structure for her PhD articles focusing on Belgium and Europe.
Bibliography
https://biblio.ugent.be/person/000090508171
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Heather Johnson
Status: Phd researcher
Heather Johnson obtained her Masters of the Arts in Sociology from North Carolina State University in the spring of 2019, where she was also a teaching assistant. Her thesis was a qualitative study which focused on the ways in which North Carolina women chefs/restaurant owners navigated a historically hypermasculine profession and whether their workplaces adhered to patriarchal norms, challenged them, or did both simultaneously.
In the fall of 2019, she became an exchange student at Ghent University. Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Bart Van de Putte, her current preliminary dissertation research focuses on the nexus of immigration and food.
Bibliography
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Bart Van de Putte
Status: Professor
Prof. Bart Van de Putte teaches specialized courses in social demography (‘migration and integration’, ‘seminar in social demography’), besides introductory courses in sociology and courses in general sociology such as ‘social change’.
His research focuses at topics in social demography and historical sociology. Of special interest are migration and ethnicity (spatial segregation, emancipation, transnational marriages, …), and marriage and family (partner selection patterns, the romanization of marriage,…). Besides these substantial issues, he is also specialized in the classification of (historical) occupational titles and the construction of class schemes.
Bibliography
https://biblio.ugent.be/person/802000081979
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Rizwan Abbas
Status: Phd researcher
In 2016 Rizwan Abbas earned the degree of M.Phil. (Master of Philosophy) in Sociology with Gold Medal from PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi (Punjab, Pakistan). For his M.phil. dissertation he investigated the small farmer's livelihood capabilities in a village of Pakistan.
He joined the Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan (Layyah Campus), Pakistan as a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Sociology for the academic year 2019-20. He taught Deviance and Criminology, Statistical Methods for Social Sciences, Sociology of Health and Illness, and also supervised the thesis of master's level students there.
Now, he is associated with the Ghazi University Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan as a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology under the "Development and Improvement of Academic Facilities at Ghazi University Dera Ghazi" - Faculty Development Program (Overseas Scholarship).
Currently, Rizwan is preparing a Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Piet Bracke. In his Ph.D., he will focus on the prevalence of stressors among teens due to gender, class, and caste-based differences and also the outcome of stigma on their well-being.
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Esther Lermytte
Status: PhD researcher
Esther Lermytte obtained her Master of Science in Sociology in 2021 at the University of Ghent. For her master’s thesis she conducted a quantitative study on gender stratification in the workplace environment in relation to mental health.
In September 2021, Esther started as a PhD researcher at the University of Ghent on the topic of vaccine hesitancy and the healthcare system. She is currently working on the VAX-TRUST project, a European project scrutinizing vaccine hesitancy and its determinants. This project aims to design and implement interventions to support healthcare workers in their encounters with vaccine hesitant parents.
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Sarah Devos
Status: PhD researcher
Sarah Devos obtained a joint-honours BSc in Psychology and Sociology from Brunel University London, and a MSc in Global Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Kings College London. Her academic interests include, but are not limited to, maternal mental health, climate migration, global (mental) health ethics and holistic approaches to health and wellbeing. Prior to commencing her PhD in our research group, Sarah worked at Ghent University as Curriculum Manager for the Master Global Health (temporarily), and for UGent’s Strategic Institutional Partnerships with UC Berkeley and Queensland.
Since the 1st of September Sarah has been working, as a PhD researcher, on the Red Nose project that aims to investigate feelings of loneliness among newly arrived minors, and the role of school social capital. She is working under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Piet Bracke and Prof. Dr. Benedicte Deforche, and she is based at both Hedera (50%) and the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (the department of Public Health and Primary Care, in the Health Promotion research unit).
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Shuangshuang Liu
Status: PhD researcher
Shuangshuang Liu obtained a Master’s degree in Management Science from Wuhan University (Whu) in July 2020. Her research interests include gender, family, marriage and health.
At present, she is working on her PhD research project under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Piet Bracke, supported by the scholarship from the China Scholarship Council (CSC). Her PhD dissertation is focused on the linkage between intergenerational support and health behaviours across European countries and China.
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Camille Wets
Status: PhD researcher
After obtaining her Bachelor’s degree in Nursing in 2017, Camille Wets graduated as a Master of Science in Sociology at the University of Ghent in September 2019. For her master thesis, she focused on the psychosocial well-being of unaccompanied refugee minors in Flemish foster care families. She conducted a qualitative study to examine the influence of both social capital and social network theories on the psychosocial well-being of these minors.
In September 2020, Camille started working for the BELSPO funded REMEDI project. The REMEDI project studies general practitioners’ decision-making regarding patients with mental health problems in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels.
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Hilde Depauw
Status: PhD researcher
Hilde Depauw obtained her Master of Science in Psychology (Clinical Psychology) in 2020 at the University of Ghent. During her studies she participated in Ghent University’s Honours Programme ‘Quetelet Lectures’, which allowed her to broaden her scientific horizons. Her research interests include fairness, culturally sensitive (mental) healthcare and social determinants of health.
Currently, Hilde is preparing a joint PhD in sociology and social psychology under the supervision of Prof. dr. Alain Van Hiel and Prof. dr. Bart Van de Putte. She conducts research on the role of procedural and interactional fairness in culturally sensitive (mental) health care, focusing on the therapeutic relationship between health care providers and minority patients.
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Fien Geenen
Status: PhD researcher
Fien Geenen obtained her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Ghent University in 2020. For her master’s dissertation she explored the relevance of procedural fairness in multicultural conflicts. Using a qualitative preliminary study and a questionnaire survey, she studied the influence of procedural fairness in decisions that were made for the headscarf ban in Antwerp.
In September 2020, Fien started working as a joint PhD researcher at the University of Ghent in the department social psychology and sociology under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Bart Van de Putte and Prof. Dr. Alain Van Hiel. The focus of her research lays on the influence of the personal history of immigrants on procedural fairness perceptions towards societal actors in the host country.
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Cinthia Mariela Parraga Lema
Status: PhD researcher
Cinthia Parraga graduated from Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL) in Ecuador, where she studied Agricultural Engineer. She has ten years of experience working closely with rural communities in diverse areas of the social farming environment in her country of origin. In addition, she carried out several project consultancies for the government and private sector. Cinthia also served as a professor at ESPOL. She was teaching and researching in the areas of agricultural extension and development projects.
Cinthia is currently a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Piet Bracke; the overall purpose of her thesis is to gain understanding in how urban agricultural practices contribute to the well-being of citizens and how their collaborative behaviour leads to community resilience.
Contact
CinthiaMariela.ParragaLema@UGent.be
Walaa Ammar Shehada
Status: PhD researcher
Walaa Ammar Shehada is a PhD researcher at Health and Demographic Research group at the University of Gent since 2020.
Walaa obtained her Master’s degree in Development studies with focus on Human Rights, Gender and Conflict from the ISS of Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. She has been awarded The Wim Deetman Scholarship, which was designed to support students from developing countries who would like to study master’s degree in The Hague in the area of peace and justice. Her MA thesis focused its analysis on the influence of geo-political relations on humanitarian interventions, considering the case of food assistance toward the Palestinian refugees.
She has a background in qualitative research methods. Her PhD is focused on identifying the factors influencing decision-making in women’s access to breast cancer treatment and her spousal relationship, including those that are: rooted within the broader socio-political context; those linked to the social determinants of health; and those related to social cultural practices.
Her research interests include the link between health and human rights, gender, refugees in the context of conflict and complex emergency.
Walaa works with the UN World Health Organization as Monitoring, Advocacy and Communications Officer since 2012. Her work is focused on information management and evidence-based advocacy in the area of health and human rights during emergencies; both man-made conflicts and pandemics.
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Angel R. Zapata Moya
Status: Associate Professor, Universidad Pablo de Olavide of Seville (Spain).
Ángel conducted his doctoral research at the Pablo de Olavide University (Seville) in collaboration with the University of Ghent and under the co-direction of Prof. Dr. Piet Bracke. His doctoral thesis focused on the reproduction of health inequalities and the role of the diffusion of preventive innovations. He has been a visiting researcher at the Department of Sociology at Ghent University and at the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. He currently teaches courses in Public Health and Epidemiology and is affiliated researcher at the Urban Governance Lab in the Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Seville) and actively collaborates with Hedera group.
Research interests
He performs research in the domain of sociological epidemiology and contextual influences on health. His main interest focusses on the study of the persistence of health inequalities as preventive innovation/knowledge spreads. He currently is the PI of the "Healthy-Scenes" project that aims to study the influence of the symbolic-cultural dimension of places on healthy lifestyles in Spain, and of a project exploring contextual influences at the local level on healthy aging trajectories in Andalusia.
Websites
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6199-9271
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angel-Zapata-2
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Maité Van Alboom
Status: PhD researcher
Maité Van Alboom obtained her Master of Science in Clinical Psychology in 2018 at the University of Ghent. For her master thesis she focused on catastrophizing thoughts, acceptation, and well-being in adolescents who underwent spinal fusion for idiopathic scoliosis.
Currently, Maité is a PhD student under supervision of Prof. dr. Liesbet Goubert (department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology) and Prof. dr. Piet Bracke. She focuses on the role of stigma and social networks in the context of chronic pain. Besides, Maité is also working as a clinical psychologist in a group practice.
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Elif Lootens
Status: PhD researcher
Elif Lootens obtained her Master’s degree in Sociology from Ghent University in 2020. After her studies, Elif started a second master in Migration and Diaspora studies at SOAS, University of London, which she obtained in September 2021.
October 2021, she started as a teaching assistant at the Sociology department of Ghent University. She teaches workshops in sociological research, coordinates sociological courses, guides students in various individual- or group works and arranges the organisation of exams. Elif is doing a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Bart Van de Putte. Her PhD focuses on gender, race and white ignorance using postcolonial and black feminist theoretical frameworks to explore inequalities in higher education.
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Emiel De Meyer
Status: PhD researcher
Emiel De Meyer obtained a Bachelor's degree in Biology in 2015, and a Master's degree in Bioscience engineering (with a focus on tropical agriculture) in 2018. Since 2018, he has been working as a teaching assistant and PhD student at the Department of Plants and Crops, Faculty of Bio-Science engineering.
For his PhD, he conducts ethnobotanical research on medicinal plant use by the Congolese community in Belgium combining plant sciences and social sciences. Besides, he investigates the impact of urbanization on traditional medicinal practices and healthcare choices in Belgium and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Lies Saelens
Status: PhD researcher
Lies Saelens obtained her Master of Science in Theoretical and Experimental Psychology in 2022 at the University of Ghent. For her master’s thesis she studied the neural processing of social exclusion using electroencephalography (EEG).
In September 2022, Lies started as a PhD researcher at the University of Ghent under supervision of Prof. Piet Bracke. She is currently working on the FWO project STAMINA, which is a collaboration between the research groups Hedera and CuDOS. The STAMINA project aims to understand mental health stigmatization among ethnic minority and majority adolescents in Flanders, and the role of school context.
Contact
lies.saelens@ugent.be
Camille Duveau
Status: PhD researcher
In March 2020, Camille started working as a researcher at the Institute for Health and Society Research, UCLouvain, in Brussels. She holds a degree in Dietetics (IPL) and a master in Public Health Sciences (UCLouvain).
Her research area is ethnic inequalities in mental health care. In collaboration with UGent, she is currently working on the REMEDI project (GPs' REcommendations to patients with MEntal health problems and DIverse migration backgrounds).
Contact
camille.duveau@uclouvain.be
Justine Vanbavinckhove
Status: PhD researcher
Justine obtained her Master of Science in Clinical Psychology at Ghent University in July 2022. During her studies and internship at a multidisciplinary pain center she became deeply interested in topics within the field of Health Psychology, particularly psychosocial influences on chronic pain and its broader impact on physical and mental wellbeing. Her master’s thesis focused on public stigma in the context of chronic pain and related gender differences.
In October 2022, Justine started working as a PhD researcher at Ghent University. Her doctoral research, supervised by her supervisor Prof. Dr. Liesbet Goubert (department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology) and co-supervisors Prof. Dr. Peter Pype (Department of Public Health and Primary Care) and Dr. Melissa Ceuterick, investigates opioid-related structural stigma in chronic pain management through an interdisciplinary perspective.