- Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
CW : Persuasive Communication - Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
1018 WV Amsterdam - J.C.M.vanWeert@uva.nl
- T: 0205252091
Name: Julia C. M. van Weert
PhD: 2004, Utrecht University
MSc: 1996, University of Amsterdam, Cum Laude
Interests: I am Professor of Health Communication and head of the Department of Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). Next to founding director of the Amsterdam Center for Health Communication/ACHC, I am also co-lead of the Health sector within the national Gravitation program AlgoSoc (Public Values in the Algorithmic Society), co-lead of the ELSA Lab AI for Health Equity and board member of the UvA’s Research Priority Urban Mental Health.
At its core, my theory-driven and evidence-based research unearths underlying mechanisms of online information processing and how digital (AI-based) technologies impact health outcomes and wellbeing. My research focuses on effective health communication, in particular for underprivileged and high risk, vulnerable people such as older patients, people with limited health literacy and migrants. My team studies (vulnerable) patients’ information and communication needs, information processing and effects of theory- and evidence-based health interventions. I am very interested in the added value of new media strategies in health communication, such as eHealth and mHealth. I focus both on traditional and on novel, artificial intelligence based tools and I am specifically interested in the interplay between mediated communication (e.g., the use of digital tools) and patient-provider communication. This concerns for instance our understanding of how information on a website should be presented to (older) patients but also the effects of exposure to health communication technologies (e.g. a patient portal, a pre-visit website or a virtual coach) on communication during consultation. A major aim is to unravel the complicated dynamics between digital information provision and patients’ cognitive, emotional, communication and health outcomes. I am involved in projects such as the NWO Data2Person project SNOWDROP and the ZonMw funded project ADFICE_IT (using prediction models in clinical decision support systems), and the EU projects MentalHealth4all (digital mental health platform for migrants) and Label2Enable (trusted EU mHealth label for apps).
Link: UvA profile