Every IAS Research Fellowship begins with a kick-off lecture, which was a highlight for me. It's rare to have the chance to present your work for an hour to an interdisciplinary group of researchers, receive valuable feedback, and discuss ideas. I invited colleagues from both my past and current research groups, and having them together in one space facilitated the integration of different perspectives into my interdisciplinary research on healthy aging and complexity.

I also met many inspiring new researchers and joined exciting kick-off lectures and meetings from other IAS members. One memorable event was watching the documentary Als de nacht maar niet valt (If only night wouldn't fall) with the filmmaker and other scientists. This documentary critically examines the scientific aim to assess “healthy behavior” and shows potential risks of trying to measure, define, and predict mental disorders. The documentary and following discussion resonated deeply with me and will influence my future work.

Additionally, I participated in an expert meeting on causal inference and triangulation in mental health, led by Jorien Treur, Margot van de Weijer, and Robyn Wootton. Marie Deserno and I discussed the implications of a complexity approach to mental health. It was interesting to learn from diverse research perspectives, such as genetic epidemiology, and explore our similarities and differences in conceptualizing mental disorders. Another highlight was my conversation with IAS Journalist-in-Residence, Sanne Bloemink, which resulted in a publication on complex systems thinking in psychology in De Groene Amsterdammer.

A major highlight at the end of my fellowship was co-organizing an invitational conference on “Complexity & Aging” at the IAS. We gathered 15 researchers from psychiatry, epidemiology, methodology, psychology, computational modeling, gerontology, and geriatrics to discuss current research projects and explore opportunities for future collaboration within the context of complex systems thinking and aging research.

As you can see, my highlights revolved around a simple but effective idea: bringing people together to focus on a research topic (mental health, aging, and complexity), and being inspired by each other’s perspectives. This is the strength of the IAS, and I couldn't be happier with these wonderful experiences. I want to thank the entire IAS team for their support, the tasty lunches, chats around the coffee machine, and community drinks. This fellowship allowed me to connect with researchers from various fields, providing the space and time for deep thinking. I am incredibly grateful for these past months and highly recommend the fellowship to other researchers.