BIT UL is an initiative from the Knowledge Centre. The team focuses on solving behavioural issues that arise at the Leiden University.
Who is BIT UL?
BIT UL currently consists of two students from the Research Master of Psychology and two researchers and advisors from the Knowledge Center. The following twostudents are currently working on the project: Tim Egelmeers and Satu Koivusaari. Both are doing an internship at the Knowledge Centre, and BIT UL is part of their internship trajectory.
What kinds of behavioural issues is the team currently working on?
The students deal with issues within Leiden University, such as:
- How do we ensure that employees turn off the heating and close the windows when they leave a room/hall for the rest of the day?
- What are the reasons that employees do not lock their laptops when they leave them (briefly) and do not use strong passwords?
- How do you ensure that people do not unnecessarily leave the fume hood on high ventilation?
Words from our (former) BIT UL'ers
Sofia Conde: “It's exciting to be a part of new projects that use my master's insights to tackle problems in the university. It offers me a more applied approach to my studies with a major social impact. The people that are involved are also very helpful and interested, and I feel that my knowledge is relevant, useful, and valued, which is very satisfying.”
Laura Jimmink: “It's great that what we do can really have an impact. The results of our projects can provide the university with useful insights into how certain desirable behaviors can be stimulated. It is also great that the other people involved in our projects, such as our contact persons at the faculties, show a lot of interest in the projects and are very willing to help.”
Nicolas Kurtenbach: “I like to dive into new topics and at the start of the internship I didn't expect to know so much about fume hoods. Furthermore, the potential impact of the project is huge (Harvard reports that they save $200,000 each year through fume hood interventions). So this is a brilliant project that shows the impact social psychology can have on improving our daily lives in sometimes unexpected ways.”