The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has awarded a Gravity Grant for research on stress. The aim is to develop new methods to measure and reduce stress in everyday life and thereby prevent the development of stress-related illnesses. Dr Matthijs Noordzij, associate professor (BMS faculty), is one of the six core applicants for this grant. Also involved are Hermie Hermens (EEMCS), Geke Ludden (ET), Birna van Riemsdijk (EEMCS) and Bernard Veldkamp (BMS).
The grant will enable intensive cooperation between the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam UMC, Groningen UMC, Erasmus MC and the University of Twente in the Stress-in-Action project over the next ten years. From the gravitation grant, more than 2 million euros will go to the University of Twente, where scientists from the social and technical faculties will jointly shape the technological and design side of the project.
Stress: buzzword or assassination?
Mapping the impact of stress on our daily lives is necessary to improve public health and well-being of the population. Because if stress occurs often and remains high for a long time, it can cause depression, anxiety and burnout, but also cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. Despite this, stress seems to be the buzzword of modern life.
Improved technology
One advantage of stress research in our present day and age is that technology and methods for moving stress research from the laboratory to everyday life have advanced greatly. By applying new technology, we can do much better and faster research on stress and its impact on people. This enables the development of new monitoring and intervention strategies to monitor and reduce stress in daily life and its impact on health. UT associate professor Matthijs Noordzij: "By collaborating with various disciplines from psychology, design, biomedical sciences, computer sciences and philosophy, we can develop methods and technology that are reliable and that will better enable people to deal with the inevitable stressors of everyday life in a healthy and meaningful way."
More information
For more information, visit the Stress in Action website.
