René Veenstra (

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, October 16, 1969) is professor of Sociology at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He was the scientific director of the Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS) from 2014 to 2023. The ICS is a joint graduate school of the sociology departments of the

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

, the Radboud University Nijmegen, and the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

Biography

Veenstra graduated in

Educational Sciences Education sciences or education theory (traditionally often called ''pedagogy'') seek to describe, understand, and prescribe education policy and practice. Education sciences include many topics, such as pedagogy, andragogy, curriculum, learning, ...

and

Pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

from the University of Groningen in 1994. In 1999 he received his doctorate in Sociology of education under the supervision of Jules Peschar and Tom Snijders. From 2000 to 2004, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher (with Siegwart Lindenberg and Hans Ormel) and as a data manager at TRAILS. In 2011, he was appointed professor of sociology. In 2015, he received a 1.5 million NWO Vici grant for a research program entitled ''Anti-bullying programs 2.0: Tailored interventions to minimize bullying''. He is a member of the steering committee of the 22 million GUTS (Growing Up Together in Society) research program, funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science. This 10-year program (2023–2032) was initiated by Eveline Crone. The program aims to understand how young people grow up in a complex society. GUTS combines social network research with

neuropsychology Neuropsychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how a person's cognition and behavior are related to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Professionals in this branch of psychology often focus on how injuries or illnesses of t ...

Research

Veenstra examines and directs research on the social development of youth. This line of research examines, for instance,

social norm Social norms are shared standards of acceptance, acceptable behavior by groups. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into wikt:rule, rules and laws. Social normat ...

s, social influence, social network processes related to bullying, and the healthy context paradox. His line of research uses various analysis techniques, including social network analysis techniques such as stochastic actor-oriented models, as implemented in R Siena a program developed by Tom Snijders and colleagues. His group also collected high quality datasets, such as TRAILS, SNARE, KiVa NL, and PRIMS.

TRAILS

TRAILS is a cohort study that has been following a group of youth in their development since 2001. Approximately 2,500 young people complete questionnaires, interviews, and tests every two years. TRAILS researchers examine their

physical Physical may refer to: *Physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally co ...

mental Mental may refer to: * of or relating to the mind Films * ''Mental'' (2012 film), an Australian comedy-drama * ''Mental'' (2016 film), a Bangladeshi romantic-action movie * ''Mental'', a 2008 documentary by Kazuhiro Soda * ''Mental'', a 2014 O ...

, and social development. Topics that have been studied with TRAILS include bullying and victimization, acceptance and rejection by parents and peers, and

health disparities Health equity arises from access to the social determinants of health, specifically from wealth, power and prestige. Individuals who have consistently been deprived of these three determinants are significantly disadvantaged from health inequiti ...

between heterosexual and LGB adolescents

SNARE

''SNARE'' (Social Network Analysis of Risk behavior in Early adolescence) is a Dutch adolescent social network dataset with about 1,800 students from two schools: one in the middle and one in the north of the Netherlands. Longitudinal social network studies using SNARE focused on how friends select and influence each other in terms of

academic achievement Academic achievement or academic performance is the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has attained their short or long-term educational goals. Completion of educational benchmarks such as secondary school diplomas and bachelor's deg ...

aggression Aggression is overt or covert, often harmful, social interaction with the intention of inflicting damage or other harm upon another individual; although it can be channeled into creative and practical outlets for some. It may occur either reacti ...

, and

helping Helping behavior refers to voluntary actions intended to help the others, with reward regarded or disregarded. It is a type of prosocial behavior (voluntary action intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals, such as shar ...

KiVa NL

''KiVa NL'' is a dataset collected to evaluate the KiVa anti-bullying intervention in the Netherlands. KiVa was originally a Finnish program and was developed by Christina Salmivalli. The intervention effectively prevents and combats

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...

. KiVa emphasizes the role of the whole group in bullying. Teachers are important for instructing students and breaking the power that bullies have over their classmates. KiVa NL includes 10,000 students from a total of 98 schools. Data collection began in 2012 with a pre-assessment in grades 2-5 and was followed up every six months for two years, resulting in five waves of data. Longitudinal social network studies using KiVa NL have focused on the co-development of

and

victimization Victimisation ( or victimization) is the process of being victimised or becoming a victim. The field that studies the process, rates, incidence, effects, and prevalence of victimisation is called victimology. Peer victimisation Peer victimisati ...

on the one hand, and antipathies, defending,

friendship Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. In some cultures, the concept o ...

s, and popularity on the other.

Recognition

He was a visiting professor at the Department of Psychology at the

University of Turku sv, Åbo universitet , latin_name = Universitas Aboensis , image_name = University of Turku.svg , motto = ''Vapaan kansan lahja vapaalle tieteelle'' , established = 1920 , type ...

, Finland (2007-2012). He was an editor of the

Journal of Research on Adolescence ''Journal of Research on Adolescence'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published quarterly by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Society for Research on Adolescence. The editor-in-chief is Nancy G. Guerra (University of Delaware). The journal cov ...

from 2010 to 2016. He is an elected member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

, the

Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities The Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities), located on the east side of the Spaarne in downtown Haarlem, Netherlands, was established in 1752 and is the oldest society for the scie ...

and an elected fellow of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development. He delivered keynote addresses at the 2nd World Anti-Bullying Forum and the 27th meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development. He was the keynote speaker at the opening of the

academic year An academic year or school year is a period of time which schools, colleges and universities use to measure a quantity of study. School holiday School holidays (also referred to as vacations, breaks, and recess) are the periods during which sch ...

2022 in Groningen in the Martini Church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veenstra, Rene 1969 births University of Groningen University of Groningen alumni Dutch sociologists Social network analysis Living people