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Hi! Welcome to my website. I am a PhD student in the Agent Research Group of the AI Department at the VU University Amsterdam. I started in 2009 under supervision of my promotor prof. dr. Jan Treur and my co-promotor dr. Michel Klein. My current research focuses on ambient and persuasive intelligence. Within this area I am interested in the development of intelligent systems that support humans both in individual and in group contexts. I am currently working on the development of an intelligent support system for lifestyle behavior change. Related to behavior change in larger groups, I am working on contagion of information, beliefs and emotions in these groups. Persuasive systems can use models of contagion and behavior change to help people accomplish their goals of lifestyle change.


Research interests and projects

  • persuasive technology
  • cognitive modeling
  • human-computer interaction
  • habit learning, behavior change

eMate Project
Treatment for chronic diseases often consists of a combination of lifestyle advice (such as more exercise, and a healthy diet) and medication. Adherence to these recommendations is often far from optimal for the patients. In this project an intelligent online self-monitoring and support system is developed. The system aims to improve adherence to therapy, both with respect to lifestyle change and medication intake. The system can be used within disease management programs as a new element or as long-term follow-up to support retainment of counseling effects. The system is based on a mobile phone application and a web-based interface. The eMate system is able to give patients personalized advise, tailored information, appropriate reminders and motivational messages, all without caregiver interference. The models used in the system can also be applied to non-patients who want to change their everyday behavior or habits.

Social Contagion within groups
Within this research I am particularly interested in ambient environments situated in a social context. In such environments the ambient system reacts to human behavior while at the same time trying to affect it. As a consequence, there are dynamic interactions between humans (e.g., social contagion), humans and technology (e.g., monitoring), and technologies (e.g., data transfer). I work on modeling these dynamics and understanding how they can be used to nudge people’s behavior in a certain direction. Applications of these models can for example be found in emergency scenarios.

Nominations & Awards

Google Scholar 2010 for the EMEA Scholarship for Women in Computer Science (Europe, Middle East, Africa)

Nominated for a thesis award at Utrecht University: Vliegenthart Scriptieprijs 2009

Nominated for best paper award: (BNAIC 2010) Wissen, A. van, Gal, Y., Kamphorst, B., Dignum, V. Human-Agent Team Formation: An Empirical Study.