Joanna (1982) was born in Żnin, Poland and finished her school education in Germany (Abitur). After a year of voluntary work, she moved to the Netherlands to study psychology at the Radboud University Nijmegen. She specialized in Cultural Psychology and obtained her Master on a cross-cultural study on narcissism and meaning in life. In February 2012, she defended her PhD thesis in Religious Studies, which was a mixed-methods study on contemporary death rituals. For more than a year, she worked as post-doc researcher at the EMGO+ Institute for Health and Care Research at the VU university medical center in Amsterdam on a study of ethics of care and end-of-life decision-making. Since September 2012, she works as assistant professor in existential care at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht.
Work Experience
2012 – present Assistant professor psychological & spiritual aspects of existential care, University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, the Netherlands
2011 – 2012 Post-doc researcher on ethics of care and end-of-life decision making, EMGO+ Institute of Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center, VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2007 – 2011 PhD candidate, research on meaning making of death, the postself and notions of immortality, Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands (PhD defense 24 February 2012)
2007 – 2007 Student assistant ‘Public history and identity of the past’, Faculty of Arts, Radboud University Nijmegen
2005 – 2006 Student Assistant ‘Introduction Cultural psychology’, ‘Culture and Self’, Faculty of Social Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen
Other work/activities/memberships
2017-present Board member IRILIS Institute for ritual and liturgical studies (Chair since 2020), Protestantse Theologische Universiteit Amsterdam
2022-present Editorial board Yearbook for Ritual and Liturgical Studies
2022-present Advisory board Netherlands Studies in Ritual and Liturgy (NSRL)
2009 – present Reviewer/ editor for academic journals/ publishers (a.o. Death Studies, PLOS one, International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, European Journal for Psychotraumatology, Journal of Constructivist Psychology, Journal of Palliative Medicine, Review of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, Sage open, Religions, Social Science and Medicine, Mortality).
2007 – 2009 Volunteer in terminal home care, VPTZ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
2004 – 2006 Assistant for daily practices of people with physical disabilities, Fokus Wonen, Nijmegen
2001 – 2002 Volunteer at school for children with disabilities, Rheinische Schule für Körperbehinderte, Germany
Education
2007 – 2011 PhD Religious Studies, Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, (PhD defense, 24 February 2012)
2002 – 2006 Bachelor & Master of Science, Psychology of Culture and Religion, Faculty of Social Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen
1994 – 2001 Städtisches Gymnasium, Germany