Chris Hoeboer

Bigdata4change is a PhD project at Amsterdam UMC’s Department of Psychiatry, within the Center for Psychological Trauma, focused on improving treatment for people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The project addresses a key clinical question: why some patients improve during trauma-focused therapy while others continue to have symptoms, and how treatment could be adapted earlier when progress is insufficient. The research brings together international data from PTSD treatment sessions and studies symptom change session by session. The PhD candidate will work on building a large cross-center dataset, analyzing treatment processes that precede symptom change, and identifying when and for whom those processes matter most. A major part of the project is the development and validation of predictive models that can estimate early in treatment who is likely to recover, who may remain symptomatic, and who may deteriorate. The final phase of the project includes a randomized clinical study comparing standard Prolonged Exposure therapy with a version in which effective treatment processes are deliberately strengthened. This makes the project both methodological and clinically applied, combining psychological treatment research with advanced modeling and trial work. The student will work closely with experienced researchers and with national and international partners, including clinical and academic collaborators in the Netherlands, Norway, and beyond. The project is embedded in an internationally oriented trauma research environment with a strong focus on accessible, effective, equitable, and personalized care for people with PTSD. The role also includes collaboration with clinicians, researchers, and people with lived experience in the design, conduct, and interpretation of the study, as well as publication and conference presentation of findings.