Karin Roelofs

Karin Roelofs (born 1972) is a cognitive neuroscientist and clinical psychologist known for her contributions in the fields of stress resilience, decisions making under threat (including the role of defensive freeze reactions in humans), and neurocognitive mechanisms of emotion regulation in health, professionals at risk and patients with stress-related disorders. Currently she holds the position of Professor of Experimental Psychopathology at the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI) and is chair of the Affective Neuroscience group at the Donders Institute for Brain Cognition and Behaviour (DI), Radboud University Nijmegen (RU) in The Netherlands. Roelofs received three consecutive grants by the European Research Council (ERC) and the Spinoza prize for her research and is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Education and career

Roelofs obtained her master's degree in Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychology at Radboud University. For her Neuropsychology degree she interned at the Pediatric Branch NCI: National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, USA. She completed her Ph.D. in 2002 at Radboud University, with the highest distinction (Cum Laude) and became assistant professor at the Department of Clinical Health and Neuropsychology at Leiden University (LU). During this time, she also held part-time positions as a registered GZ-Psychologist at Rivierduinen, Leiden and at PsyQ, Den Haag. In 2007 she was promoted to associate professor at the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC). Following her tenure at Leiden University, she made a transition in 2010 to Radboud University as a full professor of Experimental Psychopathology at the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI) & Donders Institute: Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging (DCCN). It was there that she founded the EPAN group, known as "Experimental Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience".

Research Roelofs is an expert in affective neuroscience and stress-related disorders. She has provided the empirical foundations of current theorizing about the role of human defensive stress-reactions in long-term resilience. Her group's longitudinal studies in risk populations of which one is currently implemented in the curriculum of the Dutch Police Academy. She is member of the Research Council of the ERC (2026-2030) and board member of the European federation of academies of sciences and humanities: All European Academies (ALLEA), dedicated to the advancement of science and scholarship in Europe and the world. She is founding member and former chair (2022–2024) of the International Resilience Alliance (INTRESA) , founding member and former vice-president (2020–2025) of the (AERG) , member of the Academia Europaea 2020-2027 Dutch Research Council (NWO) Crossover Grant. Role WP-leader: INTENSE: Innovative Neurotechnology for Society. 2018 European Research Council (ERC-CoG) Consolidator Grant. Primary applicant: DARE2APPROACH: A Neurocognitive Approach to Alleviating Persistent Avoidance in Anxiety Disorders (772337) 2017-2024 Horizon2020 Personalized Medicine grant. Co-applicant (PI: Kalisch): DYNAMORE: Dynamic modelling of resilience (777084777084) 2013-2017 European Research Council (ERC): FP7-HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION (co-applicant) 2007-2013 Dutch Research Council (NWO): Vidi (advanced postdoc) personal grant 2004-2007 Dutch Research Council (NWO): Veni (postdoc) personal grant (in Dutch: De veerkrachtige mens) as part of the Dies Natalis event at Radboud University; "What causes you to freeze, flee or fight when you feel threatened?" ( in Dutch: Wat zorgt ervoor dat je verstijft, vlucht of juist vecht als je je bedreigd voelt?) was recorded as part of public lecture series of the University of the Netherlands (in Dutch: de universiteit van nederland); and "Grensverleggen is... logisch" organized by the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands (in Dutch: Ministrie van Defense); and a lecture on Veerkracht as part of the Radboud Reflects lecture series.

Roelofs' work has been featured in several television programs and documentaries: The Evens Foundation Price video, Radboud Brain Awareness Week, "Martijn is Angry!" ( in Dutch: Veilig Verkeer Nederland: Martijn is Boos! ). VPRO-Labyrint and Katja's body scan.

Her work has been covered in newspapers and magazines, including the annual magazine of the Dutch Research Council (NWO): Results of 2022, NeurolabNL, European Commission Horizon (online magazine), NWO.

She also engaged in educating teachers and primary school children in research skills, including workshops, lectures and a book on science for primary schools.

Additionally, Roelofs' expertise has been sought in media interviews, including discussions on funding for fundamental research Lastly, her lab's efforts have been featured in numerous articles and radio segments in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Representative publications

Source: