Today, the KNAW announces sixteen new scientists who will join the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. We are proud to mention that two senior researchers from Stress in Action have joined the KNAW. Meike Bartels (VU Amsterdam) and Liesbeth van Rossum (Erasmus MC) are leading figures in their fields of science.
All new members joining the KNAW (seven women and nine men) are excellent scientists who also attach great importance to their societal role. They have been selected by expert juries from among many nominations. On 29 September, they will be officially installed.
Meike Bartels
Professor of Genetics and Wellbeing, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Meike Bartels is known in the media as the ‘happiness professor’, and rightly so. Her work has fundamentally shifted the field: from a focus on risk factors for psychological suffering to understanding the interplay between genetic predisposition and environmental influences on wellbeing—a term that encompasses how people feel and function, the extent to which they experience meaning and satisfaction, and how far they are able to develop and express their potential.
Within Stress in Action, Bartels is involved in Research Theme 3. RT3 explores how daily-life stress responses affect mental and cardiometabolic health. Bartels makes the connection between wellbeing, resilience, and stress. Want to know more about Meike Bartels’ work? Listen to the Stress Navigation podcast about her research: ‘Meike Bartels on wellbeing and no-size-fits-all’
Central to her work is the question of why people differ in their levels of wellbeing. Bartels mapped out genetic influences and studied the role of environmental factors. Her research explains part of the relationship between wellbeing and outcomes such as depression and anxiety, with direct relevance for prevention. She also demonstrated that wellbeing is not only an outcome, but should also be seen as a starting point: higher wellbeing predicts better health and societal outcomes.
Liesbeth van Rossum
Professor of Endocrinology, Erasmus MC
Body fat is an organ, and obesity is not only a (partly) lifestyle-related disease, but also a chronic disease of that organ. This condition should ideally be prevented, but if it occurs, it must be taken seriously and treated—not judged or stigmatised.
These are insights to which internist-endocrinologist and researcher Liesbeth van Rossum has made a significant contribution. She investigates the physical and psychosocial causes of obesity and pioneered the measurement of the stress hormone cortisol in scalp hair. In doing so, she discovered new links between obesity, stress, and cortisol, which led her to previously unknown causes of obesity, both hereditary and related to medication use.
Within Stress in Action, Van Rossum is involved in Research Theme 3. RT3 explores how daily-life stress responses affect mental and cardiometabolic health. Van Rossum makes the connection between obesity, stress, and lifestyle. Want to know more about Liesbeth van Rossum’s work? Listen to the Stress Navigation podcast about her research: ‘Liesbeth van Rossum on stress in our blood, hair and body fat’
Van Rossum’s research also led to a new approach to obesity, which has been included in several medical guidelines. Thanks in part to her efforts, lifestyle interventions have also been incorporated into the basic healthcare package. In addition, she plays important international leadership roles in the field of obesity, both scientifically and in policy.
Together with Mariëtte Boon, she wrote the book “VET Belangrijk” (“FAT Important”), which has been translated into ten languages, followed in January 2026 by “VET Belangrijk 2.0”, also a bestseller. She also set up three widely used websites: two for healthcare professionals and one for the general public (www.checkoorzakenovergewicht.nl).
Van Rossum appears in national media about twice a week, whether in print, on radio, or on television. In 2021, she was named Rotterdam Woman of the Year.
