Research
We are a research and development lab that aims to establish the scientific foundations for effective mental health games. We empirically validate our games with rigorous research designs, we share our data publicly, and publish our results regardless of outcomes. We are also committed to developing a theoretical framework and new methodologies that stipulate how to use games to experimentally test theories of psychological change.
Design
Our international partners include developmental psychologists, neuroscientists, veteran game developers, and artists whose objective is to harness the power of play to transform children's emotional lives. We co-design game experiences based on empirically validated principles, together with clinicians, parents and children themselves.
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Jon Haidt Social Media Discussion (based on Twitter thread Nas)
Jeanine Jennings - 28-03-2023Recently, prominent social psychologist Jonathan Haidt posted a piece about social media and teen girls’ mental health. Nastasia has her own thoughts on this, read them here!
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New: Ask GEMH Anything!
Nastasia Griffioen - 27-03-2023We are launching a new video series: Ask GEMH Anything! Send us your burning question about digital tech and wellbeing, and we'll dive into it!
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€3.7 Million awarded for interdisciplinary project on hope and climate change
Hanneke Scholten - 14-03-2023An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, University of Twente (including our GEMH Lab co-director Hanneke Scholten) and the municipality of Amsterdam, have received €3.7 million from the National Growth Fund to explore hope as a social response to climate change.
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PRESS Play Field Research Day in Ghent
Nastasia Griffioen - 20-02-2023Hanneke and Nastasia traveled to Ghent in Belgium for a day to collect data from kids visiting the PRESS Play theatre show—a fantastical interactive experience for kids set up by our partners at Kopergietery exploring agency in the virtual world.
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GEMH Session #5 Can Video Games help Kids Grieve? with Matthew Kreutter
GEMH Lab - 31-01-2023On Jan 27th we hosted a new GEMH Session with special guest Matthew Kreutter. Together we discussed the potential of using digital play-based spaces (like Minecraft) to support grieving youth.
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Radboud Reflects Session: "Wat doet gamen met ons?"
Joanneke Weerdmeester - 16-01-2023On Nov 23rd 2022, Dr. Joanneke Weerdmeester participated in a Radboud Reflects session together with Dr. Eelke Spaak focused on the effects of gaming. Dr. Spaak's talk focused on cognition and perception, whereas Joanneke focused on mental and emotional health. The talks were followed by an in-depth discussion. Talks and discussion are in Dutch.
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Stories of Impact
GEMH Lab - 04-10-2022Treating Youth Anxiety Through Gaming with Dr. Isabela Granic, Dr. Hanneke Scholten, and Ken Koontz
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"Limits at Infinity": Dr. Nastasia Griffioen has successfully defended her research on social media and youth wellbeing
Nastasia Griffioen - 15-09-2022Last Monday, September 12th 2022, I had the massive privilege of defending my PhD dissertation at the Radboud University, featuring 4 years worth of work on young people's wellbeing and their relationship with social media.
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Over $1.6 million awarded to GEMH Lab by TWCF
Nastasia Griffioen - 19-05-2022As the Games for Emotional and Mental Health Lab enters a new era of transitions and changes, we are extremely excited to announce that the Templeton World Charity Foundation has awarded us with over $1.6 million to share our knowledge with like-minded individuals!
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GEMH Game Gallery July 2022
GEMH Lab - 21-03-2022This summer the GEMH lab is organizing a games festival! With this event we want to enable anyone and everyone to experience some highlights of the current games-for-wellbeing landscape. In the run-up to the event we will provide updates about the specific date, location, and program.
Events View all events
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Latest Projects View all projects
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Project Lead Category Project StatusIsabela Granic Resilience Preparation
Bloombox: A Toolkit for Creating Transformative Tech
About the projectCreating digital tech—whether it be videogames or apps—that makes a real impact on human flourishing is hard! Luckily, at the GEMH Lab we have amassed many lessons learned, tips, tricks and caveats over the years of our existence. All of which we aim to bring together in the Bloombox: a toolkit for creating transformative tech.
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Project Lead Category Project StatusAbele Michela Behavior Regulation Writing Dissertation
DUST: Decisions Under Stress Training - A Biofeedback Training in Virtual Reality for police officers
About the projectThe work of a police officer can be seen as an evolutionary paradox: in places and situations where most people would fall prey to survival instincts of self-preservation, police officers ought to act calm, with proportionality and benevolence. This is why police officers need to train control over their responses to threat as much as possible. To enable this, we develop a virtual training environment with real-time biofeedback. We combine virtual reality and biofeedback to create a personalized, realistic training experience, while honing state-of-the-art technology and psychophysical theory.
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Project Lead Category Project StatusNastasia Griffioen Social Media Recruitment
XCAVO: Realigning Your Digital Life
About the projectDigital media are designed to serve many different functions: socialising, working, building relationships, as well as playing and being entertained. In this project, we seek to understand the impact of different features of digital media, and help youth align what they value and love with what they do on digital platforms, in order to increase wellbeing and coherent identity development.