PhD candidate Laura Pape has recently started her BioClock project at the Leiden University (LU). She works on the design of an e-health intervention focusing on strengthening the biological clock and improving health. It ultimately aims to improve mental health of university students which is often poor. She is supervised by dr. Niki Antypa, professor Philip Spinhoven (LU), professor Annemieke van Straaten (VU) and dr. Sascha Struijs (VU). Below she introduces herself further. Tell...

Ayano Shiba is one of the first PhD BioClock candidates. She works at the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience, under the supervision of Professor Andries Kalsbeek. She introduces herself and her project. Who are you? I am Ayano Shiba, a new PhD student in the laboratory of Professor Andries Kalsbeek at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience. I am from Japan and my hobbies are travelling, playing sports (jogging, basketball etc…) and making music. What is your...

In the night of November 22nd to 23rd, NPO Radio 1 made a long program about BioClock. Lighttherapy in depression, day and night rhythms on the IC, the importance of light and darkness for biodiversity, and a night hike through the animal facilities of Artis Royal ZOO. The science-radio program Focus spoke with different BioClock researchers on the importance of the project. You can listen to the episode here (in Dutch).

Laura Kervezee (coordinator of BioClock) has, together with Marijke Gordijn (Chrono@Work) and Eus van Someren (Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience) translated a comic book named Enlighten your clock made by Coline Weinzaepflen en Manuel Spitchan. The book is freely accessible.

On October 30th, the yearly event Night of the Night was organised. This event raises awareness for the importance of darkness. That darkness is essential for many animals, people often know. But that darkness is important for people, is less well known. The effects of light at night – light pollution – are one of the focus points of BioClock. Kamiel Spoelstra, BioClock researcher, explained in a large interview with NRC Handelsblad (dutch national newspaper) how light pollution...

BioClock coordinator Joke Meijer, explained in RTL News, national tv news channel, that closing bars and restaurants early is a good idea for you biological clock. Due to the COVID rules, bars and restaurants need to close their doors at midnight. Therefore, many bars start their festivites earlier during the day. Joke Meijer explained that this could be a good thing for many people as they will be able to prioritize their sleep and to a lesser extent disrupt their biological clock....

We are happy to announce that the recruitment of BioClock PhD students and postdocs has officially started. With the biological clock as common denominator, we will be looking for a wide variety of backgrounds: from ecology and biology to psychology and immunology. You can check out the available positions here [link to vacancy page]. Some projects have already published their vacancies, others will follow over the next few months. New positions will be advertised on the vacancy page...