Dr. Laura Bringmann and dr. Tina Kretschmer new members Young Academy Groningen (YAG)

The Young Academy Groningen (YAG) has appointed seven new members from diverse disciplines at the University of Groningen. Among them two staff members of the Faculty of behavioural and Social Sciences: dr. Laura Bringmann (psychology) and dr. Tina Kretschmer (Pedagogics). The new members will be officially installed in a ceremony on the evening of 1 October.

The Young Academy Groningen is a club for the University’s most talented, enthusiastic and ambitious young researchers. Its members come from all disciplines and have a passion for science and an interest in science policy, interdisciplinarity, diversity, internationalization, outreach, leadership and career development in academia. Chair of the YAG Marie-José van Tol: “We were very happy to see many excellent researchers apply this year for Young Academy Groningen Membership and are thrilled to now welcome these selected seven new enthusiastic members. Together with our current members, we now even better represent our broad UofG and look forward to stimulate dialogue on matters of policy and interdisciplinary research within academia and tell the world what is going on within our beautiful university.”

My research topics range from philosophical issues in statistics and psychology to developing better person-specific treatments in psychiatry. This interdisciplinarity will be nourished at the YAG were young researchers form different disciplines all over the university fruitfully interact. What is close to my heart is to work towards a research environment at the RUG and in the rest of the Netherlands where there is less pressure to get grants (e.g, many small grants instead of a few big ones, depending on the discipline). I would also like to set up interdisciplinary crowdsourcing research projects where scientists from different fields analyze the same data, and to organize statistically oriented symposia aimed at informing and inspiring the general public to critically approach research results.

Dr. Tina Kretschmer

My research focuses on social development in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, where I specifically study how relationships with friends, classmates, and other same-age peers affect young people's health and well-being and relationships they have with others later on. A new avenue I am currently starting up is research into intergenerational processes, that is, I will study whether experiences with close others affect social development of one's own children. What I am most enthusiastic about in terms of joining the YAG is that it allows me to pause in my daily tracks of research, teaching, and administrative tasks and spend time thinking about the bigger picture of science and the role of the university for society, both locally as well as internationally. Thus, what I really hope to work on as a member of YAG is to build bridges between this very internationally-minded university and the local, regional, and national community in which it is embedded.