I am a PhD Student at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (University of Amsterdam). In my dissertation, I focus on the way Dutch families with young children (aged 3-8) use and trust virtual assistants in the form of smart speakers in their home. For this, I make use of traditional (i.e., cross-sectional survey designs and interventions) as well as advanced digital methods (i.e., automated text analysis and data donation). Through the course of my academic education I have been trained to follow core principles of Open Science, such as preregistration, sharing open materials, and making data available. My work so far has appeared in journals such as Computers in Human Behaviour and Computing as well as in conference proceedings such as the ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization.

I am a member of the NeFCA Young Scholars Network Steering Committee where we organize events for the (young) NeFCA community throughout the year and especially at the yearly Etmaal conference.

I also serve as an editor of the ComCom (Communicating Communication) blog on which PhD students of the Amsterdam School of Communication Research report about their scientific work to a non-scientific audience and share their experiences as PhD students.

As part of my PhD, I am involved in teaching bachelor courses (e.g., Digital Society Minor - Theories & Challenges, Introduction to Communication Science, Entertainment Communication) within the communication science study programme. I am also a teaching assistant in Master courses (e.g., Digital Media Livestyles) and I advise students in writing their master thesis as part of the 1-year communication science Master’s programme.

Keywords & research fields

• Human Computer/Machine Interaction
• Virtual/Voice assistants
• Trust in technology
• Research on families with young children

Research methods

• Survey designs
• Automated text analysis
• Data donation
• Interventions