Jiemiao Chen works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Developmental and Educational Psychology unit. Her research explores dynamics in young people engaging with real-world and digital social environments, with a specific focus on gaze behaviour.

More information about Jiemiao Chen

Jiemiao Chen works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Developmental and Educational Psychology unit. Her research explores dynamics in young people engaging with real-world and digital social environments, with a specific focus on gaze behaviour.

Research

Jiemiao Chen’s work specifically aims to understand the interplay between social contexts (e.g., daily encounters, peers, social media platforms), development, and mental and behavioural health (e.g., social anxiety and misinformation susceptibility).

In her research, she utilises various eye-trackers (e.g., eye-tracking glasses) and develops (dual) eye-tracking setups in a range of naturalistic interaction environments, including labs and schools, with participants ranging from childhood to adulthood.

Short CV

Jiemiao Chen obtained her PhD at Leiden University in April 2023. Her PhD project investigated how social anxiety influences eye-contact in naturalistic social situations (e.g., public speaking, face-to-face conversation). Her PhD project was supervised by Prof. dr. P. Michiel Westenberg and Dr. Esther van den Bos.

In October 2022, Chen beccame a postdoctoral researcher in an NWO-funded research project, continuing her work with Prof. dr. P. Michiel Westenberg and Dr. Esther van den Bos. This project investigated in which developmental period(s) socially anxious individuals start to avoid eye-contact, and how social anxiety influences interpersonal dynamics of eye-contact during a naturalistic conversation (e.g., who initiates and breaks eye-contact).

In October 2025, she started a new line of research, funded by the AXA Research Fund, on adolescents’ susceptibility to online misinformation. Her current work specifically aims to understand adolescents’ gaze behaviour in digital environments and how it contributes to susceptibility to misinformation. Jiemiao currently works as a postdoctoral researcher in the Cognition in Development (CoDe) Lab led by Dr. Ili Ma. Jiemiao is also part of the Knowledge Center for Anxiety & Stress in Youth. 

Teaching

• Perspective on Career Planning
• Honours Research Bachelor Project
• Bachelor thesis – international
• Master's thesis
• Research internship

Grants

AXA Post-doctoral Fellowship 2025 (140k€; own postdoc)

Publications

Activities