Jeroen Pronk

I am a senior researcher at the department of Child Health of the unit Health & Work and have a background and PhD in developmental psychology and educational pedagogy. In 2015, I obtained my doctorate for research on social relationships between youth in (special) educational contexts, such as bullying and defending victims. After completing my PhD, I broadened my expertise towards supporting the socio-emotional development of youth in (special) education and cocreating interventions on this topic with students and teachers.

Since 2022 at TNO, my primary research focus has been on how the social and physical living environment can support the health and well-being of youth and adults and can reduce health disparities. Towards this, I work within (inter)national collaborations on themes such as social cohesion, neighborhood connectedness, overweight, sports and physical activity, and on offline/online social relationships among youth.

In addition, I apply myself to realizing co-research with youth and adults and to shaping research in true collaboration with the target group. Within this context I am, for example, involved in the development and establishment of the TNO OpenLab for research with, for, and by youth.