Biography
Dr. Paul Kocken is Associate Professor Behavior Change at Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at ÌÇÐÄÖ±²¥. He coordinates the courses Health Psychology & Behavior Change and Professional Skills in the master’s track Health Psychology. His main areas of expertise are methods of health behavior change and epidemiology, focusing primarily on behavior change research and the application of scientific research methods in practice settings.
His background is in public health. He previously worked as research scientist in health and youth care practice at the Municipal Health Service GGD Rotterdam and Dutch center for innovation and applied research TNO. His research and teaching activities are in the field of public health consequences of unhealthy behaviors and the development and assessment of effective behavior change interventions and policies. He uses scientific research methods in practice settings to accelerate behavior change and reduce health disparities.
His main research interests are:
- Systematic development of educational, nudging and systems interventions, including digital solutions, to change health behaviors.
- Epidemiology of health problems and health services research.
- Application of behavioral insights for policy making and equity.
- Societal transitions and behaviour change.
- Digital decision support.
His projects are with many stakeholders, such as municipalities, citizens, care organizations and universities. Currently, he closely works together with policy makers and researchers from Rotterdam Municipality and is academic manager of the collaborative expert center behavioral research and development Healthy’R. He is involved in two nation wide sectorplans started by Social Scienses and Humanities (SSH), 1) Societal transitions and behaviour change, 2) The EUR programme "Influence of digitalization on work, prosperity and entrepreneurship". He is member of the Editorial board of Dutch journal health sciences TSG, Tijdschrift voor Gezondheidswetenschappen, that recently reached its 100 years volume.
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences
- kocken@essb.eur.nl
More information
Work
- Malin H.L. Hollaar, Bram Kemmere, Paul L. Kocken & Semiha DenktaÅŸ (2025) - - BMC Public Health, 25 - doi: -
- Paul Kocken, Meinou H.C. Theunissen, Janine Bezem, Arjan Huizing, Kitty C. B. P. van der Ploeg, Caren I. Lanting & Olivier A. Blanson Henkemans (2025) - - Tijdschrift voor Gezondheidswetenschappen, 103, 1-9 - doi:
- Jelena Kollmann, Shakib Sana, Tessa Magnée, Sarah Boer, Inge Merkelbach, Paul L. Kocken & Semiha Denktas (2024) - - Primary Health Care Research and Development, 25 - doi: -
- Noortje M. Pannebakker, Sijmen A. Reijneveld, Mattijs E. Numans & Paul L. Kocken (2024) - - Child and Family Social Work, 29 (2), 386-397 - doi: -
- Marion C.E. van de Sande, Minne Fekkes, René F.W. Diekstra, Carolien Gravesteijn, Paul L. Kocken & Ria Reis (2024) - - Children and Youth Services Review, 156 - doi: -
- Marion Cornelia van de Sande, Esther Pars-Van Weeterloo, Rene F.W. Diekstra, Carolien Gravesteijn, Paul L. Kocken, Ria Reis & Minne Fekkes (2024) - - Health ÌÇÐÄÖ±²¥, 124 (1-2), 1-19 - doi: -
- Marion Cornelia Van De Sande, Paul Leonardus Kocken, Rene Folquinus Diekstra, Ria Reis, Carolien Gravesteijn & Minne Fekkes (2023) - - Frontiers in ÌÇÐÄÖ±²¥, 8 - doi: -
- S. Sana, I. Merkelbach, T. Magnée, J. Kollmann, R. P. Peeters, P. L. Kocken & S. Denktaş (2023) - - Vaccine, 41 (45), 6754-6760 - doi: -
- Inge Merkelbach, Tessa Magnee, Shakib Sana, Jelena Kollmann, Paul Kocken & Semiha Denktas (2023) - - PLoS ONE, 18 (1 January) - doi: -
- S. Sana, J. Kollmann, T. Magnée, I. Merkelbach, S. Denktaş & P. L. Kocken (2022) - - BMC Primary Care, 23 (1) - doi: -
- Paul Kocken (2024) - eHealth en digitale zelfzorg (Speaker)
Activity: Oral presentation › Professional - Paul Kocken (2023) - GP care use by citizens of low-income neighbourhoods in Rotterdam during Covid-19. (Speaker)
Activity: Oral presentation › Academic - PL (Paul) Kocken (2004) - TSG (Journal) (Member of editorial board)
Activity: Editorial work › Academic
