Esra de Groot

Currently, I am a PhD candidate in Computer Science, focusing on Human-Computer Interaction, at the Web Information Systems group at Delft University of Technology. My PhD project is embedded within the PROTECt Me project, a flagship project within the Health & Technology Convergence, an interdisciplinary collaboration between Delft University of Technology, Erasmus Medical Centre, and Erasmus University Rotterdam. With the PROTECt ME project we aim to use technology to support the mental well-being of adolescents.

Within my research, I investigate ways in how technology can support and promote users’ (mental) health and well-being. Here, I focus on how we can align these technologies, such as mobile apps, better to the needs of our users in an ethical and responsible way. To do this, I conduct research using various methods:

• Qualitative methods: I use qualitative methods to understand users’ needs. For instance, by analyzing open-ended user experience data using thematic analysis or conducting co-design sessions with the end-users.
• Algorithm development & simulations: I develop algorithms (e.g., reinforcement learning) to personalize health and well-being apps and test these algorithms using simulations.
• Responsible engineering: I aim to investigate how we can best develop these personalization algorithms in a responsible and ethical way.
• Empirical studies: I use empirical methods to study how the personalization algorithms perform in a real-life setting. Furthermore, I’m interested in investigating how the interaction between the app and the end-user can best be designed in order for the app to be effective.

Before starting my PhD in 2023, I obtained a bachelor’s degree in Psychobiology (Behavioral Neuroscience) and a master’s degree in Information Studies (Data Science track), both at the University of Amsterdam. Next to my master’s, I worked for two years as a lab manager at the Connected Minds Lab, at the Developmental Psychology department of the University of Amsterdam. Here, I assisted in researching the (neural) development of social learning and decision-making, using methods such as behavioral experiments, surveys, neuroimaging, and computational models.