'The courses are challenging both for the students and for me,' she says, 'Research methods and statistics usually don't make for the most popular subjects, but I plan to make the classes appealing by discussing current issues and giving many examples of exciting research.'

'Learning how to conduct research is elementary for university students. Not only because they need to know how to apply the techniques, but also so they will gain a critical eye towards results achieved by others and better understand academic debates. How do you evaluate methods and results? What are the pitfalls?'

Suzanne is an active researcher herself, working with a prestigious VENI grant on a project researching morbid curiosity. 'I specialize in research on emotion, using behavioural and physiological measures and neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI to see what goes on in the brain.  In the last few years I worked at the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory  in Boston, focusing on the neural bases of emotion. Although my current research is fundamental in nature, I do have experience with research on social issues, stemming from my work at the city of Amsterdam's Research & Statistics department.

Research skills are invaluable to acquire as you become an academic. Students cannot start learning research methods early enough. That is why these courses are given in the first year of the PPLE programme. I like active education, having students apply what they have learned and promoting discussion. I will undoubtedly bring some of my own research into the classes, and I look forward to interact with the students about questions that are not only relevant to them, but also to my own research.'