Heleen Riper

Professor, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Since 2015 I am full professor of eMental-Health (clinical psychology) at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Department Clinical, Developmental and Neuro Psychology, section Clinical Psychology, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) and I work as well at the Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Department of Psychiatry (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). From 2011 till 2015 I was full professor of eMental-Health at the Universityof Leuphana, Lüneburg, Germany and since 2014 honorary professor of Telepsychiatry at the University of Southern Denmark (Faculty of Health Sciences, Odense). Since January 2021 I am a visiting professor at the University of Turku, Faculty of Medicine, Finland. In December 2021 I received an honorary doctorate for my overall scientific work from the University of Bern (Bern, Switzerland) and in September 2022 a Lifetime award from the International Society for Research on Internet Interventions (ISRII 2022).

Over the past 20 years my research focus has been on the development, evaluation, and implementation of digital interventions for mental disorders such depression, anxiety, and problem drinking in routine mental health care and especially those based on cognitive behavioral therapy. These digital interventions span a whole range of technologies ranging from internet-based interventions, mobile health applications, web-based video-conferencing and virtual reality. The scope of my current research activities includes the evaluation of mobile health and ‘blended’ treatments for depression and anxiety in specialized mental health care services. New methodological challenges include the development and evaluation of mobile ecological momentary assessments and interventions (EMA/EMI), patient-centred design and digital phenotyping. I have opted for an international perspective and collaboration throughout my academiccareer and acted as Principal Investigator of over 15 large scale European Union projects and reviewer for Research Funding Organizations globally. I was Principal Investigator of the European Comparative Effectiveness study on Internet Interventions for Depression (E-COMPARED, www.e-compared.eu).

Since 2007 I have published over 375 (international) peer reviewed papers and book chapters within the digital mental health domain (H index 59 as per August 2023). In 2020 I have been ranked by the Web of Science™ in the top of 1% mostly cited researchers in the cross-sectional domain. I am and have been principal supervisor for over 34 PhD students in the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. On average I give between 12 and 15 keynote presentations yearly in the Netherlands and abroad. I was a scientific advisor for the Innovation Foundation of Dutch Health Insurers (Innovatiefonds Zorgverzekeraars) from 2014 -2020). In 2013 I (co) founded the Journal of Internet Interventions of which I was associated editor (published by Elsevier) and from 2014 – 2021. I am a member of the ISRII from the start (2004) and I organized the ISRII in Amsterdam in 2009 and co-organised it in 2014 in Valencia. In the period of 2012-2016 I was President of the International Society for Research on Internet Interventions (ISRII). Since 2018 Iam the director of the DIFFER EU-Consortium (Digital Framework For E-health Research) which provides a technological not-for-profit web and mobile intervention platform (Moodbuster 2.0) for researchers who aim to develop, evaluate and implement digital interventions. By June 2021 I became chief editor of the Digital Mental Health section of Frontiers of Psychiatry. Currently I am a member of several Dutch ZonMw program commissions including the Mental Health program and the Prevention program.