Anke Klein is an Associate Professor in the department of Developmental and Educational Psychology. She develops and studies the treatment of anxiety, mood problems, and related problems in children and adolescents, with a particular emphasis on parent–child mechanisms and intervention innovation. She is Head and co-founder of the Knowledge Center for Anxiety and Stress in youth (KAS) and serves as faculty lead of the Leiden Healthy Society Center (LHSC).

More information about Anke Klein

Anke Klein is an Associate Professor in the department of Developmental and Educational Psychology. She develops and studies the treatment of anxiety, mood problems, and related problems in children and adolescents, with a particular emphasis on parent–child mechanisms and intervention innovation. She is Head and co-founder of the Knowledge Center for Anxiety and Stress in youth (KAS) and serves as faculty lead of the Leiden Healthy Society Center (LHSC).

Research

Klein’s research focuses on improving treatment outcomes for children and adolescentswith anxiety-, stress-, and mood-related problems. Together with her research group, she investigates how anxiety and mood problems develop and are maintained—among others through child interactions, cognitive mechanisms, and loneliness. These insights are translated into innovative treatments and preventative programs.

Her projects range from clinical trials of brief, intensive treatment formants to mechanistic studies on social relationships, digital mental health innovations and longitudinal research on the development of anxiety and depression. With this research line, she has obtained multiple prestigious national and international grants and fellowships, including a ZonMw postdoctoral fellowship, a Niels Stensen Fellowship, an NWO Hestia Grant, and numerous NWO and ZonMw project grants in the areas of intervention development, intervention innovation, mechanistic research, and implementation. This broad funding base has contributed the development of a strong, internationally embedded research group with collaborations in the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, and the United States.

Knowledge Center for Anxiety for Anxiety and Stress in youth (KAS)

Klein is Head of the Knowledge Center for Anxiety and Stress in youth (KAS), which she co-founded. In this role, she leads the development and application of knowledge on anxiety, stress in children and adolescents. KAS connects research, education, clinical practice, and policy with the aim to strengthen early recognition, prevention, and treatment. The center develops training programs, tools, educational materials for schools and youth-care professionals, and serves as a regional and national center of expertise. KAS is funded by grants from the Municipality of Leiden, Leiden Kennisstad, NWO Science Communication, and the Derwort Fund administered by the Leiden University Fund (LUF).

Leiden Healthy Society Center (LHSC)

In addition, Klein serves as faculty lead of the Leiden Healthy Society Center (LHSC). In this role, she works to promote interdisciplinary collaboration around health and well-being in the city of and region of Leiden region, with specific attention to strengthening the connection between science, practice, and policy.

Registrations

• University Teaching Qualification
• BSI graduate school PhD programme certificate
• BAPD qualification (diagnostic certificate), Dutch Institute for Psychologists
• NVO qualification, Dutch Institute for Remedial Educationalist
• EBL Art Therapy Treatment A, B and C certificates

Teaching

Klein teaches and coordinates various courses and educational activities within the Master, and Research Master programmes of the department of Development and Educational Psychology. Her teaching is characterized by a strong integration of scientific evidence,   clinical relevance and interdisciplinary collaboration. She is currently:

• Coordinator and lecturer of the Master’s course Evidence-Based Practice in Clinical Child Psychology
• Coordinator and lecturer of the Master’s course Advanced Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
• Research Master mentor within the mentoring programme for students in Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Internship and thesis coordinator for the Research Master in Developmental and Educational Psychology

Short Biography

Klein obtained three master’s degrees (Clinical Pedagogy, Developmental Psychology, and the Research Master in Behavioural Science) and earned her PhD cum laude at Radboud University. She previously worked at the University of Amsterdam, Ruhr-University Bochum, and Macquarie University in Sydney. Her work has been recognized with several personal and project-based grants and forms the basis for the training and supervision of PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and clinical professionals in developmental psychopathology.

Publications

This publication list contains Kleins publications from the period before she came to Leiden.

Selection of Grants (2020–2025)

Below is a selection of grants awarded in the period 2020–2025. For a complete overview, please refer to this document.

• 2025 – NWO Impact Explorer (PI)
  Grant aimed at exploring and strengthening the societal impact of research on anxiety.
• 2022, 2025 – Project Grant Knowledge Centre Anxiety in Youth (KAS), Municipality of Leiden & Leiden Knowledge City (PI)
  Funding for the development and further expansion of the Knowledge Centre Anxiety in Youth, focusing on anxiety-related issues in children and adolescents.
• 2024 – ZonMw Project Grant, Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive and Phobia Patient Association (project advisor)
  Grant for the development of online peer support for young people with anxiety-related problems.
• 2023 – ZonMw: Underlying Mechanisms of Anxiety Treatment in Children (PI)
  Project into the active mechanisms underlying anxiety treatment in children.
• 2023 – ZonMw Project Grant for an RCT on Treatment for Children with Anxiety and Low Mood (PI)
  Funding for a randomized controlled trial evaluating a treatment for anxiety and depressive symptoms in children.
• 2023 – NWO National Science Agenda Project Grant (PI)
  Interdisciplinary research project focusing on anxiety and stress in youth, with strong societal engagement.
• 2023 – ZonMw Implementation Grant for Mental Health Care During the Transition from VMBO to MBO (Co-PI)
  Development of an implementation plan to improve mental health care related to anxiety and stress during the transition from secondary to vocational education.
• 2020 – Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Programme (PI)
  Grant aimed at strengthening academic collaboration and exchange between Leiden University and Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia).
• 2020 – NWO Hestia Grant (PI) and IIE Scholar Rescue Fund (Supervisor)
  Grants supporting academic continuity and international collaboration; supervision of Dr. Uysal as a Scholar Rescue Fellow.

Previous supervised PhD candidates

• R. Zimmermann Childhood specific phobia: the role of parents, 2022, present. 
• G. Bijsterbosch Emotional facial recognition in youth with social anxiety, 2022 – present
• A. Hagen Combining One-session treatment with app-based technology in children with a specific phobia, 2019 - present
• N. Wolters Social connectedness and loneliness in social anxiety and depression across the lifespan, 2018 present
• J. Baartmans The role of peers and parents in childhood social anxiety (completed)
• L. Mobach Interpretation biases in childhood social anxiety: Assessment and prediction of treatment outcome (completed)
• R. van Niekerk The role of parental anxiety in the transmission of anxiety to children (completed)

Publications