Prof Dr Rob Ruiter (R.A.C.)

Since 2016, I hold the chair of Health and Social Psychology in the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience at Maastricht University. This was preceded by an endowed chair in Applied Social Psychology with a special interest in the use of methods from the cognitive neurosciences in 2012. I obtained a Ph.D. degree in Psychology in 2000, preceded by a Master's degree in Public Health in 1995 with specializations in Health Education and Health Policy and Management, all at Maastricht University.

My core research and teaching interests are within the systematic development, implementation and evaluation of theory- and evidence-based behavior change interventions, with a special interest in the application of psychological theory to understand and provide solutions for societally relevant problematic human behavior in the domains of health, environment, and safety. I am a co-author of Intervention Mapping, a globally applied protocol for the planned design of behavior change interventions by using theoretical and empirical evidence, including the participation of stakeholders, program implementers and target population, and adopting a social-ecological approach. See here for my publications.

The research projects that I am involved in use both laboratory-based research methods including non-invasive measures of brain activation (EEG/ERP, fMRI) and unobtrusive behavioral measures (eye movement, virtual reality observations) as well as quantitative and qualitative research methods in applied settings including surveys and in-depth interviews.

I have been a student, Ph.D. candidate and scientific staff member at Maastricht University. In these roles, I have always taken a strong interest in teaching, next to my research activities, at the Bachelor but mainly at the Master and Ph.D. level, preferably in small groups and one-to-one contexts. Topics I teach relate to planning behavior change, program implementation, risk communication, and applying psychological theory.

2016 - current Professor of Health and Social Psychology at the Department of Work and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University

2016 - 2019 Professor of Applied Social Psychology at the Department of Work and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University

2012 – 2016 Professor of Applied Psychology (endowed chair) at the Department of Work and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University.

2012 – 2017 Head of Department of Work and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University.

2008 – 2016 Associate Professor Applied Psychology at the Department of Work and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University.

2008 – 2015 Guest lecturer, Hasselt University, Department of Traffic Science, Hasselt, Belgium

2002 – 2008 Assistant Professor (tenure) at the Department of Work and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University.

2001 – 2012 Visiting research fellow, Medical Research Council, National Health Promotion  Research and Development Unit, Cape Town, South Africa.

1999 – 2002 Assistant Professor (tenure track) at the Department of Work and Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University.

1995 – 1999 PhD student, Maastricht University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion. Thesis: Scary warnings and rational precautions: A study into fear arousal and its contribution to precautionary motivation. Defence date: December 15, 2000. Promotores: prof. dr. Gerjo Kok (Maastricht University) and prof. dr. Bas Verplanken (University of Tromsø, Norway).