Karakter is a Dutch mental healthcare organization focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents with complex psychiatric disorders. In addition to providing clinical care, Karakter is actively involved in scientific research, aiming to improve mental healthcare for children, adolescents, and their families.
For the upcoming period, Karakter has several research projects and assignments available for Bachelor's Master's or Internship-students. Please find an overview of the available opportunities below. The assignments can be carried out in a hybrid setting, combining remote work from home or university with on-site work at one of our locations in Almelo, Enschede or Nijmegen.
If you are interested in one of the (below) offered projects, please indicate your preference for one of the options. Together with student, UT-supervisor and Karakter-supervisor, we can investigate the opportunies and determine which assignment fits best to your wishes (and study status) . Please note that some assignments are described in Dutch. This is because these projects involve tasks such as data collection, data processing, or communication with Dutch-speaking participants, for which proficiency in the Dutch language is required.
Organisation: Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry |
Location: Nijmegen. Hybrid working is possible, including working from home. |
Period: November- February |
Brief description of the assignment |
Are you interested in wearable technology, data analysis, and the potential of digital health tools to improve mental health care for children and adolescents? This internship offers an opportunity to explore the clinical value of wearable technology in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP). The internship focuses on data collected using GENEActiv wearable devices, which provide objective measurements of activity and sleep-related patterns. Available datasets include data from adolescents in the general population and young people receiving mental health care in a clinical setting. The intern will contribute to exploring how wearable-derived measures can be used to better understand the functioning and needs of young people, and how these measures could add value to clinical assessment and care. Your tasks will include:
Who are we looking for? We are looking for a curious and motivated student in Health Psychology and Technology with an interest in wearable technology, digital health, and child and adolescent mental health. An interest in quantitative research and data analysis is important. Experience with R is an advantage, as is an ability to critically evaluate scientific literature. You should enjoy combining scientific research with practical clinical questions. What we offer You will have the opportunity to work with real-world wearable data from diverse groups of young people and contribute to research at the intersection of digital health, psychology, and clinical practice. The internship combines literature research, data analysis, and reflection on the clinical relevance of wearable technology. Flexible working arrangements are possible, including working from home. |
Contact person for more information: |
Name: Sara Pieters |
Organisation: Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry |
Location: Nijmegen. Hybrid working is possible, including working from home. However, we ask interns to be present on-site at least one day per week to facilitate collaboration with the research team and involvement in ongoing projects. |
Period: November- February |
Brief description of the assignment |
Are you interested in girls’ mental health and the ways in which biological rhythms and developmental transitions influence psychological well-being? This internship offers an opportunity to contribute to research on the mental health of girls receiving care in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP). Girls’ mental health can be shaped by a complex interplay of psychological, social, and biological factors. This internship focuses on understanding these interactions, with particular attention to internalising problems, autism, sleep–wake rhythms, menstrual cycles, puberty, and important developmental transitions such as the move to secondary education. The intern will contribute to several ongoing research projects, including projects on internalising problems among girls receiving mental health care and the transition to secondary education for autistic girls. Across these projects, you will help explore how biological rhythms and developmental transitions relate to mental health and well-being, and how this knowledge can contribute to more gender-sensitive and developmentally informed mental health care. Your tasks will include:
Who are we looking for? We are looking for a curious and motivated student in Health Psychology and Technology with a strong interest in girls’ mental health, developmental psychology, and gender-sensitive mental health care. You are interested in understanding mental health from multiple perspectives and enjoy combining scientific research with questions arising from clinical practice. An interest in both quantitative and qualitative research is important. Experience with data analysis, statistical software (e.g. SPSS or R), qualitative interview analysis, or working with multimodal datasets is an advantage. We value a proactive attitude, critical thinking, attention to detail, and an ability to communicate sensitively with young people and their parents. What we offer You will have the opportunity to contribute to ongoing research projects addressing relevant and often underexplored questions in girls’ mental health. The internship offers experience with a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, multimodal data, and research involving young people and their families. You will work at the intersection of psychology, biological rhythms, developmental transitions, and clinical practice, contributing to research that aims to improve our understanding of girls’ mental health and inform more tailored care. |
Contact person for more information: |
Name: Sara Pieters |
Organisation: Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry |
Location: Nijmegen. Hybrid working is possible, including working from home. However, we ask interns to be present on-site at least one day per week to facilitate collaboration with the research team. |
Period: November- February |
Brief description of the assignment |
Are you interested in biological rhythms, biomarkers, and their potential to improve our understanding of mental health in young people? This internship offers an opportunity to explore melatonin and cortisol measurements in the context of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP). Melatonin and cortisol play important roles in the regulation of sleep–wake patterns and the body's daily rhythms. Measuring these hormones may provide valuable insights into biological processes associated with mental health and development. However, extracting meaningful information from these measurements requires careful consideration of the available sampling design, possible outcome measures, and their interpretation. In this internship, you will work with an existing dataset comprising five-point measurements of melatonin and cortisol. You will explore which biological rhythm characteristics can be derived from these data, what the different outcome measures represent, and how they might be relevant to research and clinical practice in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Your tasks will include:
Who are we looking for? We are looking for a curious and motivated student in Health Psychology and Technology with an interest in biological rhythms, psychophysiology, and mental health. You enjoy exploring how biological processes can be measured and translated into meaningful research outcomes. An interest in quantitative research and statistical data analysis is important. You should be comfortable thinking analytically about research methods, measurement limitations, and the interpretation of biological data. What we offer You will have the opportunity to work with real-world melatonin and cortisol data and investigate the methodological possibilities of a five-point measurement design. The internship combines literature research, quantitative data analysis, and reflection on the interpretation of biological rhythms in a clinical context. You will gain experience at the intersection of biological measurement, data analysis, and child and adolescent mental health, while contributing to a better understanding of how hormone measurements may inform research in clinical practice. |
Contact person for more information: |
Name: Sara Pieters |
Soort opdracht: Opstellen van een onderzoeksplan |
Opdrachtformulering De IK-groep is een intensieve deeltijdbehandeling bij Karakter in Enschede voor jongeren met psychische problemen die vastlopen in hun dagelijks functioneren, bijvoorbeeld op school, thuis of in sociale contacten. Gedurende vier tot zes maanden volgen jongeren drie middagen per week verschillende vormen van groepstherapie en vaardigheidstrainingen, gericht op het vergroten van zelfinzicht, het reguleren van emoties, het versterken van het zelfbeeld en het verbeteren van sociale vaardigheden. De behandeling combineert onder andere cognitieve gedragstherapie, groepspsychotherapie, creatieve therapie, psychomotorische therapie en systeemtherapie. Daarbij is er aandacht voor het toepassen van de geleerde vaardigheden in het dagelijks leven, in samenwerking met ouders en school. |
Naar wie zijn we op zoek? |
Wat hebben we te bieden? |
Meer informatie? |
Supervisor: |
Type of assignment: Literature review |
Description of the assignment: Parents who experience distressing events involving their child or their parenting role, such as a child's illness, behavioural difficulties, or other challenging experiences, may develop trauma-related symptoms and increased parenting stress. These symptoms can affect parental emotion regulation, mentalization, and the quality of parent-child interactions. The HERO study aims to investigate whether a brief EMDR intervention can reduce trauma-related symptoms and parenting stress in these parents. As part of the preparatory work for the HERO study, we are looking for a student to systematically collect and review existing scientific literature on the relationship between child-related and parenting-related adverse experiences, parental trauma-related symptoms, and parenting stress. The student will develop a structured literature search strategy, identify and screen relevant studies, and summarize the available evidence. |
Who are we looking for? |
What are we offering? |
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