Meet our PhD candidates: Andrea Reina Tamayo | Psychology
Meet our PhD candidates:
Andrea Reina Tamayo | Psychology
In this biweekly interview cycle we ask PhD candidates of the Graduate School about what inspires and motivates their research. In the third edition, <link people andrea-reina-tamayo>Andrea Reina Tamayo of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) Institute of Psychology tells us about her research into momentary work engagement.
In her research Andrea studies momentary changes in work engagement and the effect the tasks, supervision and people around you can have on this experience. Andrea previously worked in the recruitment sector. Andrea recalls. “I wasn’t able to apply what I had learned, or to create programmes. That’s why after a year I decided to do my PhD.”
However, it was also the technology used in this research that really attracted her. Andrea: “A smartphone app called ‘Bevlogenheid’ (‘Engagement’) was developed for the project, in which we use the method of experience sampling. We send users three push messages a day at random times for a week with questions relating to the activity they’re doing, where they are, who they’re with and how they feel in terms of energy, enthusiasm and absorption. This way we are able to gather data and the users can track their engagement and get insight into their energy levels.”
