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My name is Corina Greven, I am 36 years old, and born and raised in Franconia, Germany. I am Associate Professor at the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, and am embedded in the Neurodevelopmental Disorders theme. From there, I have established collaborative research with the Stress-Related Disorders theme, Karakter Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Radboud Centre for Mindfulness.
Where do you live?
I live in the city on the Waal, Nijmegen, close to nature and make my life more beautiful by collecting local artwork.
When you were a kid what did you want to be when you grew up? Can you tell us something about your child years?
I grew up in a “Gründerzeit” house built by my great-great-grandparents with much entrepreneurial spirit, love and attention to detail. We lived there with three generations of my family, and I feel lucky that this gave me a strong sense of belonging. Very early on, I discovered the pleasure of getting lost in literary texts. Maybe it is old hat, but even then it is relevant to point out that there is not just one type of reading: There is personal reading, in which every person experiences a different world for themselves in the same text. So building a bridge to writing was maybe only a question of time – creating your own worlds. My writing transformed over the last decades from a narrative to a scientific style, but never with less devotion to the text.
During adolescence, I was fortunate to be selected into a talent programme of the Franconian government. Stimulating my keen sense of curiosity (a blessing and a curse!), this allowed me to follow extracurricular activities, and make like-minded friends that have accompanied my path ever since.
One of my relatives was a detective in the criminal police, and part of a group specifically trained in psychology and communication. I listened with big ears when he told colourful stories about how he negotiated with blackmailers, analysed ransom notes, or conducted research into the perpetrator’s motives. So, my wish as a young girl was to be a criminal investigator. The “investigator” stayed, but a scientific investigator suits me better!
What was your previous academic training, where did you study and why did you choose that study/those studies?
A seed to pursue a scientific career was planted early, at the University of Bamberg, Germany, where I was exposed to captivating lectures on inter-individual differences and personality psychology. Aged 20, I moved to London to complete my BSc in Psychology at University College London, UK. This was an unusual path at the time, but immensely broadened my horizon. I stayed in London for my MSc and PhD in Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry, at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London.
Choosing what to study was hard, too many options and a broad interest in psychology, biology, and cultural sciences. Luckily, I had an epiphany the morning of the deadline that it was my clear desire to study psychology. I never looked back since.
Of which of your research discoveries, you are most proud of?
Not a discovery yet, but the establishment of a new research niche on Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS). This is an evolutionarily-conserved personality trait reflecting inter-individual differences in how we perceive, process and respond to environmental stimuli. Scientifically novel is that SPS is an overarching sensitivity trait that moderates differential susceptibility to both negative and positive environments.
What is more, I am excited about findings from our study on mindfulness-based intervention for children with ADHD. Mindfulness is, at its core, about how we deal with environmental information. Feel free to ask about our results.
What is your most important scientific challenge in the coming 5 years?
I am committed to critical investigation of SPS. High SPS – a scientific construct which in layman’s terms is more loosely described as “High Sensitive Personality” or “hypersensitivity” – is a topic that is urgently asked for by society and patients. At the same time, the topic also raises skepticism, and science is lagging behind the societal need. To resolve this, we recently initiated a team science review on SPS . There we showed that despite scientific advances, several research challenges remain, which my group aims to address.
SPS is a trait, not a disorder, but is linked to being more easily overstimulated by environmental stimuli, which can lead to psychological and somatic symptoms such as fatigue, mood or concentration problems. Ease of overstimulation is common not only in high SPS, but also certain mental disorders and somatic conditions studied at the Radboudumc (e.g., neurodevelopmental and stress-related disorders). In the past weeks, I spoke to clinicians across different Radboudumc departments. There was general recognition of being confronted with some patients’ “hypersensitivity”. And although “hypersensitivity” is currently not formally recognised in the medical disciplines, clinicians still need to find a way to help these patients, and the right tools for that. So I hope that I can contribute to this with new evidence-based information.
Furthermore, SPS is not only associated with symptoms, but also positive traits such as empathy, creativity and vantage sensitivity. Studying SPS, may therefore help innovate research that contributes to a healthier society, and the fostering of human capital. As a trait showing at a young age, and associated with susceptibility to mental disorder symptoms and enhanced (preventive) intervention response, high SPS may also provide new opportunities aligned with the increasing prevention focus (e.g., using mindfulness), and for talent development. My overall aim in the coming 5 years is therefore to consolidate critical examination of sensitivity to environments, and specifically SPS. Together with my local and (inter)national collaborators, we want to critically study validity of SPS, improve assessment, and investigate neural, cognitive and genetic mechanisms. For example, I work together on SPS with the campus-wide Healthy Brain Study. I am looking to extend my collaborative network on SPS, so contact me if interested.
If you could choose any mentor, who would this be?
I would not be where I am now without the trust and time that people have invested in me. I have had several informal mentors, most of them older than me, but some of them peers, and I also learn a lot from my own mentees. What I find important in a mentor is that it is someone who can push and broaden my view of science and the world, and who gives me the space to make mistakes in front of them. Importantly, mentoring does not always have to be extensive, sometimes a short conversation went a long way, and significantly impacted my path. I feel no need to venture out far to find a mentor. There is lots of inspiration around me.
What is your favorite topic: molecules - patients - population?
All of it is fascinating, but my own research is mainly at the population level with increasing focus on translation to individuals.
What should be changed / improved in the scientific community?
One of the big challenges of the next years is to take inter-individual differences and heterogeneity better into account, both in our scientific research and in how we interact with each other. For research, innovative methodology will allow novel insight at individual-level. We can make mental health research more empathic by developing it together with and for the knowledge user, and by acknowledging positive health in individuals with psychiatric diagnosis rather than disproportionally emphasising deficits.
In terms of work culture, I believe science misses out if it is not by and for all of us. In the coming years, I want to contribute to creating a work culture that is more aware and accepting of inter-individual differences and diversity factors that make us unique, as human beings and as researchers. Personality traits are just one important example. More diverse research teams produce higher impact research, and in my view will help maximise the research potential in our academic medical network.
Is there anything we can wake you up for in the middle of the night?
If my friends call spontaneously to drink a good glass of Scottish single-malt with them, I will get up. Otherwise I really appreciate my sleep.
What is the thing that irritates you most?
Injustice, and a strong sense of entitlement.
Who would you like to have dinner with, if you had the chance?
I would love dinner with Michelle Obama. I see her as someone who can connect people, combines intellect and empathy, strength and vulnerability and is dedicated to a cause greater than herself.
How do you relax from the demanding job being a scientist?
Dinners with my friends and family are unmissable! I meet with my running group twice a week in the forest, and I also practice mindfulness.
Do you have a tip for our most junior scientists?
Figure out, first and foremost, not what you want to do, but who you want to be in this world. What drives you to get up in the morning, what topics do you burn for independently of others’ expectations, and, importantly, how does it add value to the world, in a big or small way? To discover that, go out in the world, take risks and allow yourself to fail. Doing so, many doors will open for you.
Please add a photo which represents a remarkable event or experience you were part of? Please explain.
The picture shows my brother Bastian and I. We are standing next to a bronze of a boy reading to his sister, which we modelled for, and which decorates a market square in Franconia. To me, the picture represents the connection with my brother. Plus, it was pretty cool to get a statue of yourself ;-).
