https://www.tilburguniversity.edu/staff/w-j-kop
What is your role/position in the IDA program?
I provide lectures on biobehavioural factors relevant to individual differences, such as exercise and physical activity.
How long have you been teaching?
Longer than most students have been alive.
What do you like about teaching?
To create opportunities for moments of insight.
What is the reason you became a researcher?
Reality is fascinating and most aspects are predictable, this also holds for psychological phenomena – what is predictable and what is random, that is fascinating to me.
What is the most fascinating about human beings to you?
That they are alive, which is transient, and while being alive can make long-term differences for other living creatures that extend beyond their own life span.
Are there times where you doubt researching or university?
Researching never, universities rarely.
What makes IDA students unique?
They learn how to quantify individual differences at various levels of analysis, from biological to social domains.
If you could change something in the university setting what would you change?
I would increasingly focus on small-group learning experiences and practicals.
What advice would you give future IDA students?
Focus on what you are interested in, find a few goals that match with your interests – be realistic in your choices – and then work very, very hard to achieve those goals. A 40-hour week will not be sufficient; it’s a way of life, like professional sports.
What is a collaborative project that you liked and worked with an IDA student on?
The association of physical activity and acute exercise with well-being and emotional states.
How are you experiencing the teacher-student relationship in the IDA program?
Very positive – intelligent people like to talk with each other.
If you are not teaching or doing research, what else do you like doing in your personal time?
I am a non-professional musician; keyboard, various types of music.
Is there anything we missed and you would like to share? This can also be something personal e.g. a motto.
Build and create things.
[…] This article was originally Marija Jankovic’s master thesis subject. The article was written in cooperation with Nina Kupper and Willem J. Kop. […]