Congrats to Dr. Maedeh Nasri on her PhD!

Another bird left the nest! On December 3, 2024, Maedeh Nasri (MSc) officially became Dr. Maedeh Nasri as she successfully defended her PhD thesis: “A Compass Towards Equity: A Data Analysis Framework to Capture Children’s Behaviour in the Playground Context” (read here). Maedeh’s PhD was supervised by Carolien Rieffe, Mitra Baratchi (LIACS) and Alexander Koutamanis (Technical University of Delft).

Her work in this lab has left a huge, valuable footprint as she helped develop technology for an innovative research methodology to understand how playground environments shape children’s behaviour. By using sensors and a new data analysis framework, Maedeh’s research provides unique insights into children’s interactions with their physical surroundings, playmates, and teachers, as well as their individual experiences and the dynamics of their behaviour over time.

This is incredibly valuable information for investigating whether children with different needs are included, and how spaces can be designed more inclusively to support various preferences and give every child the best foundation to grow and be happy.

Thank you, Maedeh, for your wonderful work, the lovely memories, and the time you spent in our lab. We wish you all the best for the next step in your life! Meanwhile, your work will live on as part of the foundation of an exciting follow-up project: Building4Belonging.

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