This interdisciplinary symposium, organized by the Centre for Urban Mental Health, explores how city characteristics can foster mental health. From nature-based solutions (special guest: Kathy Willis) and urban interventions, speakers will provide different innovative perspectives on how mental well-being and resilience can be improved in an urban context. Proposed solutions are discussed with the audience.

In this afternoon's session of the symposium, Kathy Willis, Zef Hemel and Eveline Crone will give a keynote lecture. After the keynote, a project carousel will take place, featuring short presentations from project teams and directors. 

Please note that this event will be in an English/Dutch format; English translation for the Dutch part of the programme will be available. 

Speakers

Kathy Willis

Kathy Willis is Professor of Biodiversity in the Department of Biology and Principal of St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on how biodiversity responds to environmental change, the role of ecosystem services, and the relationship between nature and human health. She is particularly interested in how sensory interactions with nature contribute to physical and mental well-being. Willis has led major global biodiversity assessments and is an internationally recognised science communicator, authoring numerous publications and books, and contributing extensively to public debates on nature, health and sustainability.

Zef Hemel

Zef Hemel is an urban and regional planner and holds the Abe Bonnema Chair at Delft University of Technology and the University of Groningen. He previously served as Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Amsterdam and held leading roles in urban policy, education and practice, including the City of Amsterdam and the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture and Urban Design. His work explores the future of cities through the lenses of ecology, democracy, economy, art and imagination. Hemel advocates for open, adaptive forms of urban planning that respond to complexity and uncertainty. In his research and practice, he collaborates closely with artists and citizens, viewing the city as a space of collective intelligence and bottom-up innovation.

Eveline Crone

Eveline Crone is Professor of Developmental Neuroscience in Society at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Professor of Neurocognitive Developmental Psychology at Leiden University. She leads the SYNC lab, studying self-regulation and social development from birth to adulthood, with a strong focus on adolescence. Her work combines neuroscience with societal and policy-relevant approaches, actively involving youth and stakeholders in the full research cycle and with a direct link to youth policy. Crone leads the long-term GUTS programme on adolescent development and is internationally recognised for both her scientific contributions and public engagement.

Urban Mental Health Speakers

Johan Bollen

Johan Bollen is Professor of Simulation of Complex Adaptive Systems at the University of Amsterdam, board member of the Centre for Urban Mental Health, and Professor of Informatics and Cognitive Science at Indiana University Bloomington, where he directs the Center for Social and Biomedical Complexity. His research focuses on complex systems and networks, with particular attention to how digital and social media environments relate to public wellbeing and mental health. Using large-scale data, Bollen studies the dynamics of emotions, cognition and behaviour at the individual and population level. He has published more than 100 articles on computational science, network science, complex systems, social media analytics, informetrics, and digital libraries.

Claudi Bockting

Claudi Bockting is Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry at Amsterdam UMC and co-founder and co-director of the Centre for Urban Mental Health at the University of Amsterdam. She also works as a licensed clinical psychologist. She leads the Intervention-lab and the Academic workplace Shift Left (Arkin&AmsterdamUMC), where her team focuses on prevention and treatment of depression, anxiety and suicidality, with an emphasis on scalable and technology-supported (digital interventions, chatbots) interventions, and specialist to non-specialist supported-interventions. She has (co-) authored over 200 scientific publications and developed effective relapse prevention interventions and various interventions to target common mental health conditions.

Reinout Wiers

Reinout Wiers is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Amsterdam, where he leads the ADAPT Lab and is co-founder and co-director of the Centre for Urban Mental Health. His research focuses on the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying addiction and other common mental disorders, with the goal of developing and testing innovative effective (technological) interventions. His work bridges experimental psychology, clinical practice and technological innovation in mental health. Wiers has published more than 500 scientific papers, over 100 of which have each been cited more than 100 times. He is also the author of several books for a general audience, including his latest, Akrasia, which explores free will, addiction, and behavioural change and is available in Dutch and English, with a Spanish edition forthcoming.

Harm Krugers

Harm Krugers is an Associate Professor at the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS) at the University of Amsterdam and co-director of the Centre for Urban Mental Health. His research focuses on how individuals adapt to stress and emotionally challenging experiences, and why some people are more resilient while others develop stress-related disorders such as depression, anxiety or PTSD. Krugers studies how stress - particularly early-life stress - affects learning, memory, fear and social behaviour across the lifespan. Using a combination of experimental and translational approaches, his work provides fundamental insights into the biological mechanisms underlying vulnerability and resilience relevant to mental health in complex environments.

Magreet Reijntjes (moderator)

Margreet Reijntjes is a journalist and radio and television presenter with a strong focus on clear, concrete storytelling. Trained as a lawyer, she began her media career in the 1990s and became widely known as a long-standing presenter of Vroege Vogels on NPO Radio 1. She has hosted several programmes on national radio, including Twee Dingen, which was nominated for the Zilveren Reissmicrofoon.

Programme

About the organiser: Centre for Urban Mental Health

The Centre for Urban Mental Health (UMH) - Finding new pathways to improve mental health in the city

For the first time in history, more people live in cities than in rural areas. Unfortuntealy, urban life can challenge mental well-being. At UMH, we explore how people can thrive and how to reduce mental disorders such as depression, addiction, and anxiety. Using complexity science, researchers from three UvA Faculties: Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG), Medicine (FG), and Science (FNWI), together with the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), collaborate to uncover new solutions.