Meet our FPN Alumni

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Christiane Dihm

• HR Development & Scrum Master (80%) at sepago (IT-service-provider
• Freelance Psychologist (20%)

My work in HR development includes tasks such as:

• Identifying relevant competences of employees to succeed in their roles and strengthen our business objectives
• Analysing suitable formats to strengthen these competences (online courses, external trainings, internal trainings,…)
• Organising and moderating internal workshops & trainings (e.g. presentation trainings, time management,…)
• Creating learning paths
• Organising company events and company “learning-days”
• As a Scrum Master I accompany 3-4 teams moderating review, retrospective and planning meetings, supporting in conflict situations and coaching team members
• Evaluating the yearly employee survey and identifying suitable measures to increase employee satisfaction
• Implementing measures for employee mental & physical health
• Supporting team leads in their roles, through analysis of what the team or team-members need, or by providing helpful material for their yearly reviews

• Working with educational institutions: conducting assessment centres for 13-year old students for their career orientation

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Isabel Engel

Isabel works as a Talent Business Partner at imec, a world-leading research and development center for chip technology with headquarters in Leuven (Belgium). In this exciting high-tech environment, the very first prototypes of an electronic chip are made which will be in everyone's future smartphone, self-driving car  or even brain implant. Isabel's role as a program and project manager is focused on developing talent initiatives that enable employees at imec to be the best version of themselves.

Before joining imec in 2022, Isabel worked as a senior consultant at Deloitte for a few years, leading various talent projects across Europe and the rest of the world. She initially started her career as a headhunter in London, after graduating from Maastricht University in 2014 with a master's degree in Health and Social Psychology.

Whenever Isabel is not pursuing her professional passions, she enjoys family life with her husband and toddler and likes to explore new parts of Leuven. She hopes to inspire you that a flourishing career in an international context can certainly be combined with parenthood, as long as you have a flexible attitude and are international about your ambitions in the short and long run.

She looks forward to meeting you all during the next edition of Alumni Perspectives and welcomes any connection requests through LinkedIn!

https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabel-engel/  

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Pauline van Gils

Pauline van Gils was born and raised in Noord-Brabant in the Netherlands. She obtained her Research Master in Psychopathology at the University of Maastricht in 2020 after gaining her BSc in Psychology and Neuroscience also in Maastricht. She first did a research internship at Maastricht University, during which she investigated the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy combined with visual imagery methods in reducing feelings of anger and hostility. Afterwards, she did a clinical internship at the Zuyderland hospital in Sittard at the medical psychology department. There she worked with patients with brain injury. Then, she started working as a PhD researcher at the University of Twente and the University of Maastricht. The topic of her research is developing an intervention to help people who suffered brain injury and cognitive impairment after a cardiac arrest. The interventions she is currently investigating are strategy training and non-invasive brain stimulation (rTMS).

She is part of the Limburg Brain Injury Center. This is a group of researchers at the UM that do not only research and teaching, but also focus on spreading knowledge about the brain and brain injury to patients and the general public.

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Job van den Hurk

Job van den Hurk is a cognitive neuroscientist. After his Bsc in psychology and Msc in cognitive neuroscience, he obtained his PhD at Maastricht University for his research on higher order visual processing. He then worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, where he studied how visual brain regions of congenitally blind people are functionally organized. He mainly uses functional and structural MRI as neuroimaging methods, and unravels the data using computational modeling and machine learning techniques. At this moment, he works as scientific manager at ultra-high field MRI center Scannexus in Maastricht, as well as assistant professor at Maastricht University.

Job is co-founder and editor-in-chief of award-winning scientific platform BrainMatters, which intends to make neuroscience accessible to the broader public. He also writes blogs and articles for the writer’s collective Kaf.online, and is co-host of the Dutch tv show ‘Brainstorm’.

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Linda Olivers

Linda Olivers is a twenty-seven-year-old woman from Maastricht, who has studied Psychology at the University of Maastricht. After her bachelor, she decided to continue with a master ‘Psychology and Law’, because of her interests in Forensics. After a research internship at a forensic facility for youngsters, she decided to do a second master, Mental Health – Children & Youngsters - that offered her the opportunity to interact more directly with children, youngsters and their families. Experiencing the joy that working with this target group brings, she decided to commit herself to a role of psychologist/behavioral scientist. For three years she has worked now at Child Protection Services Maastricht, investigating protective and disturbing factors of influence on the development of (vulnerable) children & youngsters and advising both parents and court on which path to take in order to reach a better well-being.

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Cynthia Pallandt

In 2011 Cynthia Pallandt finished her master in Psychology & Law at Maastricht University, cum laude, just like her bachelor in psychology a year earlier. That could have been the start of an impressive career path in psychology. While applying for interesting jobs in her field of expertise after graduation, Cynthia was pointed to a traineeship in Information Technology. Not expecting to be qualified, she went in for a job interview and some tests and left that same day with a contract to sign. Fast forward to 10 years later, 10 years of working in IT, Cynthia decides to go back to the field where she left her heart: psychology. In September of 2022 she has started working at Tilburg University as teacher of academic skills and professional skills in the Psychology Bachelor. 

Almost immediately after going into IT Cynthia also started doing volunteer work. Her choice to study Psychology was mostly an idealistic one and the urge to do work with significance for society remained. Over the years she has done many types of volunteer work, like helping children to learn to read, promoting diversity and inclusion within organisations, but mostly educating people about animal welfare and veganism. At this moment Cynthia is an elected politician for the Party for the Animals. She is a board member at the Dutch Water Authority (waterschap) Brabantse Delta, where she makes it her mission to stop the suffering of animals at the hands of the government and to fight the climate crisis. She will be up for election again in 2023, as #1 on the list of candidates for Party for the Animals in Brabantse Delta.

Lastly, in the spring of 2022 Cynthia has published her first book, of which the title can be translated to “Adopting and caring for rabbits”. It focuses on rabbits from shelters. She has taken care of rabbits for ten years and has also organized six editions of the “Evening for Rabbits”, a symposium on rabbits which mainly targets shelter volunteers and veterinary students.

Feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-pallandt-0a0b7037/

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Ola Pres

Master in Neuropsychology

Academic year 2018/2019

Job title: Neuropsychologist at NTC (Neurologisches Therapiecentrum) in Cologne
Full time since July 2020

In a team of neurologists, speech therapists, physiotherapists, ergotherapists, social workers
and nurses

Tasks:

1.Rehabilitation of patients with neurological conditions:

• Diagnostics:
  • neuropsychological assessements (paper and pencil and computer) 
  • testing eligibility to drive a car

• Therapy (single sessions and groups):
  • relaxation group (Progressive Muscle Relaxation sensu Jacobson and Autogenic Training sensu Schulz
  • attention group
  • memory group
  • visual dysfunction group
  • planning and logic group
  • support group to cope with changes

• Psychoeducation:
  • pain management
  • stress management
  • mindfulness
  • eligibility of driving a car of a neurologic disease
  • smoking

2.Neuropsychological assessments for geriatric patients at affiliated the hospital:

• Identification of early cognitive changes related to various types of dementia
• Conversations to cope with disease

3. Classes and courses for current employees that are in high risk for disease to prevent from occurring

• Multimodal intervention with psychoeducation and relaxation techniques)

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Renzo Riemens

Renzo J.M. Riemens was born and raised in the south of Zeeland, the Netherlands. In 2014, he successfully  obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences  with a specialization in Molecular life sciences at Maastricht University, after which he entered the Research Master programme in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience with a specialization in Fundamental Neuroscience. For the compulsory 9-month internship, Renzo joined the research team of Dr. Raul Delgado-Morales and Prof. Dr. Manel Esteller at the “Institut d'Investigació Biomédica de Bellvitge” (IDIBELL), in Barcelona, Spain. During his internship, Renzo was assigned to a project aimed at characterizing and optimizing a neuronal in vitro model system derived from human neural stem cells within the context of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). After successfully completing his Research Master studies in 2016, Renzo started a joint-PhD programme focused on neuroepigenomics in AD between Maastricht University and the Julius Maximilians-University, in Wuerzburg, Germany, under the primary supervision of Dr. Daniel van den Hove and Prof. Dr Thomas Haaf, respectively. In 2020, Renzo was awarded with a Kootstra Talent Fellowship for young talented scientific researchers by the Maastricht UMC+ Research Committee (WMUMC+) to fund his ow post-doc position. Currently, Renzo is a post-doc fellow in the group of Prof. Dr. Daniel van den Hove and Dr. Gunter Kenis at the Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, further expanding his research on neuroepigenomics in AD trough the implementation of both targeted and epigenome-wide (single cell) approaches, as well as induced pluripotent stem cell-based model systems.

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Marwin Snippe

He studied the bachelor of Psychology and continued his study with the master Social & Health Psychology. After his master, he ended up working at CZ – a health insurance company – doing data analysis on health fraud. Investigating health companies on possible fraud he also continued (and continues to do so) working on a PhD in Psychology. The subject of the PhD centres on self-identity in the health psychology theory: the Theory of Planned Behaviour. At this moment, he works as a data analyst at Stichting Radar in healthcare. Using regression analysis, structural equation modelling and factor analysis he tries to create new insights in health psychology. At his work, he tries to gain further insight in how to better provide insights to enrich the alumni experience using visualisation as a main tool. His hobbies are mindset, personal development and motivation.

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Jocelyn Tang

Jocelyn was born and raised in Malaysia where she also obtained her Bachelor Sc (Hons) Psychology. She then pursued her master’s education in Maastricht University under the Work and Organizational Psychology track, graduating in the class of 2016-2017. Since then, she has been no stranger in the field of Human Resources, specializing in HR Rewards and Information Systems in multinational and agile organizations. Passionate about people analytics, she is currently the Global HR Information Systems Specialist in Philips Domestic Appliances. In her current role, she acts as a global business process owner and subject matter expert in HR systems, advising local teams across 47 countries on best practices within HR systems especially in maintaining people data. She is also the key driver in the implementation of HR systems where she ensures that they are configured according to business processes en route to achieving a seamless employee experience.

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Sophie Thijs

Sophie would like to share how to have a multi-career path, while not only focusing on status and ‘being successful’.  We can all relate to the pressure of graduating, making money and being busy.  She already shared in a TedX it’s not only about certificates and achieving goals to feel more successful and happy. It’s about combining this perspective with being content with developing whíle working towards a job. Feel welcome to experience how she lives this lifestyle, for a better work-life balance.

As a Flemish person she came into the open Dutch study and work mentality and started working as a child and family psychologist at the age of 23. The university nourished the sole dogma that it's normal to work as hard as possible towards 2 post-master's degrees, but she felt like a weirdo because she didn’t want to do this.

It took years to dare to apply a different method in her work as a psychologist. Plus, as a young adult, she found herself wanting to develop so many other talents besides the prescribed path of working in a sector, linked to your certificate.

Now, 13 years later, she combines work as an independent youth and adult psychologist, with not working full-time and having more fun and earning money with other passions. For example, she applies her passions to using exercise and nutrition as quick solutions for people who want to feel more fit mentally and physically. She also works as a personal development trainer at Key2Advance, and has the most fun in training and lecturing the new volunteers of ngo @ease (ease.nl). She’s a wannabe singer and has the most fun in going to roller skate parties.

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Bart Zuidberg

Police work is in many cases about human behavior, their thoughts and emotions. Knowledge from psychology is therefore relevant in a large part of police work. Bart Zuidberg works as an investigative psychologist for the police. Investigative psychologists apply their knowledge in the operation. Examples of common use in case studies are interrogation advice, risk assessment, assessment of statements and behavioral investigation advice.

 

2003 - 2007        Bachelor Cognitive Psychology - Maastricht University

2007 - 2008        Master Psychology and Law (Legal Psychology)  - 
                          Maastricht University 

2008 - 2012        Master of Criminal Investigation - Dutch Police Academy

2012 - 2016        Detective in multiple criminal investigations - Dutch Police

2018 - 2019        Postmaster education investigative psychologist -
                          RINO group

2016 - now         Investigative psychologist - Dutch Police

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