Laurens van Gestel is an assistant professor Behavioural Interventions in Population Health at the Department of Health Medical and Neuropsychology and is involved in the interdisciplinary research programme Population Health at the Health Campus The Hague.

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Laurens van Gestel is an assistant professor Behavioural Interventions in Population Health at the Department of Health Medical and Neuropsychology and is involved in the interdisciplinary research programme Population Health at the Health Campus The Hague.

Research on health behaviours and behaviour change

In his research, Van Gestel focuses on fundamental and applied research on health behaviour and behaviour change in an interdisciplinary context. He focuses on understanding the factors important for health behaviour (behavioural determinants) and on behaviour change techniques as building blocks of interventions to change health behaviour.

Nudging

A key focus of his research is on the role of automatic processes and the influence of the physical and social environment in which we make choices. Among other things, he does research on nudging. Nudges are small adjustments in the environment that stimulate desired (healthy) behaviour without restricting freedom of choice. He studies when and for whom nudges can be effective in stimulating healthy behaviour, and also focuses on predictors of acceptance, such as motivation and transparency.

Health inequalities

A second research theme is behaviour change among people with a lower socioeconomic status. Many behaviour change interventions aimed at health promotion are particularly effective among people with a higher socioeconomic status, thereby widening already existing health disparities. In his research, he uses an interdisciplinary approach to investigate which behaviour change techniques have the potential to be at least equally effective among  people with a lower socioeconomic status.

Health care professional

A third research theme is behaviour change of health professionals. Increasing knowledge about existing guidelines is often not enough to ensure that they adhere to them. For example, 2.3 million Dutch people use proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), of which it is estimated that more than half lack a correct indication. Van Gestel examines what factors explain the behaviour of healthcare professionals, and explores what techniques and interventions can be effective in changing healthcare professional behaviour.

Population Health

Van Gestel conducts his current research within the interdisciplinary Population Health programme at the Health Campus The Hague. The Health Campus's central mission is to contribute to a healthy life expectancy for all from different scientific and clinical perspectives, in collaboration with regional partners.

Education

He teaches on health promotion, behaviour change and intervention development and is involved in several areas of education at the Institute of Psychology, including the bachelor's degree in Psychology, the master's in Health and Medical Psychology, and the research master's in Clinical and Health Psychology.

He also teaches for the interdisciplinary master's programme Population Health Management.

Short CV

Laurens van Gestel received his bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts & Science from University College Roosevelt (cum laude; 2013) and his master's degree in Social and Health Psychology from Utrecht University (2015).

In 2016, he started as a PhD student at the Department of Social, Health, and Organisational Psychology in Utrecht and in 2021, he obtained his PhD with his research 'The psychology of nudging - An investigation of effectiveness and acceptability'. For his dissertation, he received the ARPH Dissertation Award for the best dissertation in health psychology in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2022.

Since 2021, he has been working at Leiden University and is involved in the interdisciplinary research programme Population Health at the Health Campus The Hague.

Publications