Karin Roelofs receives the NWO Spinoza Prize

Karin Roelofs, Mercator Fellow of the RTG 2753, has been awarded the 2026 NWO Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific honour in the Netherlands, recognizing her pioneering research on how people respond to extreme stress and what makes some people resilient. Her work on the freeze response, an active state that prepares the body for a fast decision, and its role in predicting later anxiety and depression has opened new ways of detecting mental health problems early. We congratulate Karin on this very well-deserved recognition!