Katherine Stroebe appointed Professor of Social Psychology

As of 1 October Katherine Stroebe has been appointed professor of Social Psychology. She holds the chair ‘the Social Psychology of Justice and Resilience’. As Katherine finds it important to combine scientific research, policy and application, the chair will seek to bridge the divide between science and policy/application in research as well as teaching.

Katherine’s research focuses on people’s responses to individual and collective justice violations and the extent to which such responses enhance resilience rather than vulnerability. Collective justice violations, such as being discriminated against or being the victim of man-made earthquakes have always fascinated Katherine. Such violations can induce conflict-oriented behavior: protests, demonstrations, ultimately wars. “I am interested in what makes people abstain from conflict-oriented behavior, when people may seem inactive in response to injustice. Is that really the case or are they engaging in other behaviors we have not studied yet?” She adds: “The answers to this question is yes, my research already shows”. Moreover, Katherine studies the long-term impact of experiences of (chronic) collective injustice. “In the context of the gas extraction in Groningen, we find that people objectively may have similar experiences (e.g., reg. damage to their house), yet differ in how resilient they are. I am interested in what makes people more or less resilient to collective injustice over time”.

Katherine received her PhD from Leiden University in 2009. Since then she has worked at the Social Psychology department of the UG. From 2016 onwards, Katherine has headed a large-scale research project into the psychosocial impact of the gas extraction in Groningen. Katherine is also the director of the to be opened Expertise Centre Social Sciences Health and Well-being, coordinator of the resilience track of the Aletta Jacobs School of Public Health and the Aletta contact person within BSS.