Date: 2026-06-17
Dream Team MIND will focus on better understanding the impact of stress on perfomance under high pressure. Team VU-Vital will investigate if you can really see results in lowering someone biological age in just one year, right here in the Zuidas area.
How can we better understand stress to improve health, well-being, and performance? These are the questions that the new VU Dream Team MIND will address. The team will bring together students from different disciplines around an innovative VU technology: VU-AMS. This research platform, that's being developed right here at the Demonstrator Lab of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, is used to measure physiological signals that provide insight into stress, recovery, and emotional processes and done so on a wordwide scale. The technology is now being used in hundreds of scientific studies and continues to grow as an entrepreneurial innovation originating from Vrije Universiteit.
Within MIND, students have the opportunity to work with this proven research technology and explore new applications. They operate at the intersection of science, technology, and societal impact, gaining experience with issues that are relevant to health, performance, and resilience.
The strength of the Dream Team lies in its unique connection between research, education, and entrepreneurship. Students work with technology developed at VU, researchers discover new application opportunities, and innovative knowledge finds its way to societal partners, including the Centre for Defence and Resilient Society (CDWS) and MINDBase Amsterdam, to gain practical experience and connect research insights to societal challenges.
For VU-AMS, the Dream Team represents an important next step in which research and entrepreneurship reinforce one another. What began as academic research at VU is developing into a technology that not only generates scientific insights but also inspires students to discover new applications and opportunities; this creates a living innovation environment.
Are you a student and do you feel passionate to contribute to innovation in the fields of stress, health, and human functioning? The VU Dream Team MIND is looking for motivated students from a wide range of disciplines. For more information and applications, contact dreamteams@vu.nl
Is it possible to make employees of VU and the Zuidas area “younger” within six months to a year, based on their biological age? This ambitious question is at the heart of the new VU Dream Team VU Vital. The team is investigating how lifestyle interventions, technology, and behavioral coaching can contribute to measurable improvements in health and vitality. And if you heard the name VU Vital before you are right, the Dream Team is not actually new but revived. The team already ran a full year ('24/'25) before, collecting the pilot data that formed the basis for BIO-COMPaSS , awarded the major NWA grant for research into biological ageing. Dream Team VU-Vital will contribute to its research within the NWA route.
The team will focus on an innovative approach in which biological age serves as both a key metric and a source of motivation. In a pilot involving approximately 100 participants, physical and mental fitness assessments will be conducted. Based on the results, participants will receive personalized lifestyle advice, combined with targeted interventions such as exercise programs, motivational activities, and nutrition workshops aimed at sustainable behavior change.
The project also examines how participants can best be supported through a combination of an app and personal contact. Key questions include: What is the most effective way to communicate? Which forms of guidance work best? And how can technology genuinely influence behavior?
Within the Dream Team, students will also contribute to the scientific foundation of the program. They will investigate which tests are valid and reliable for measuring biological age and vitality, which interventions are truly effective, and which forms of exercise are most motivating for participants in a busy work environment.
VU Vital will be co-supervised next year by Richard Jaspers and Bart Visser. Together, they bring students from different disciplines into collaboration with researchers and practical partners. Research, innovation, and behavior change will be brought together and the team will not only generate insights for science and practice but will also explore a potentially scalable model for preventive healthcare and vitality promotion.
Are you a student interested in contributing to innovation in health, behavioural change, and vitality? The VU Dream Team VU Vital is looking for motivated students from a wide range of disciplines. Applications can be submitted via dreamteams@vu.nl
Always wanted to know what a VU Dream Team is up to? VU Entrepreneurship fosters an entrepreneurial mindset among VU students, researchers and staff; a mindset that benefits them for a lifetime. Dream Teams consist of like-minded students working together to create real impact. Send an email with your motivation and team preference to dreamteams@vu.nl
1. PulseRacingVU >> Transforming mobility and vitality for people with spinal cord injury.
2. RISE - UT/VU Student Team >> Advancing space sustainability by development of reusable, biofuel-powered rockets
3. VU Dream Team Burning Lowlands >> Protecting nature from wildfires
4. Food Choices >> Improving food systems by reducing food waste and promoting healthy choices
5. VU Vital >> Lowering biological age
6. MIND >> Advancing our understanding of stress under extreme conditions
Participating in a VU Dream Team offers several benefits:
🤝 Collaborate with students from different study years and programs at universities and universities of applied sciences.
🌍 Make science come alive and create real impact on society.
💡 Gain valuable hands-on experience, both in the Netherlands and abroad.
🎓 Develop a wide range of skills alongside your studies.
🚀 Get a head start on your future career and job applications!
The Dream Teams are part of Demonstrator Lab VU, the university’s startup incubator and entrepreneurship laboratory. You will develop your entrepreneurial skills, expand your network, and create solutions that matter. Join a Dream Team and turn your ideas into action!
Want to apply for a Dream Team? Send an e-mail to dreamteams@vu.nl
