Dr. Symen A. Brouwers is a global Cross-Cultural Psychology research leader with twenty+ years hands-on field experience in Africa, Asia, and Europe. He grew up in the Netherlands within sight of the sea, sand, and mud flats that is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. His childhood was filled with books on cultural history and, until today his inspiration draws as much from world literature as it does from professional academic publications. Currently he is an Extraordinary Research Scientist at the WorkWell Research Unit of North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa, and conducts research on a freelance basis, most recently for UNICEF in Eswatini, Kenya, and Namibia on children with disability and social norms related to their school going. His writing has appeared within the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and the blogs of Ruminate Magazine and UNICEF. Symen received a PhD in Cross-Cultural Psychology from Tilburg University, The Netherlands (2008), and lives in South Africa since 2014, where he is married, and he and his wife are expecting their first baby.
Experience
2018–present
Senior Research Consultant, Hecht Insights
2020–present
Extraordinary Research Scientist, North-West University
2018–present
Senior Research Associate, UNICEF East and Southern Africa
2014–2019
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, North-West University
2013–2013
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Zürich
2008–2011
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Ghent University
2003–2008
PhD Student, Tilburg University
2003–2007
Editorial Assistant, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Exploring the Effects of Acculturative Stress and Social Support on the Acculturation-Depression Relationship in Two Countries of Similar Social Status, Journal of International Migration and Integration
2020
Well-Being Orientations and Time Perspective Across Tightness-Looseness Latent Classes in Africa, Journal of Happiness Studies
2018
The Positive Role of Culture: What Cross-Cultural Psychology Has to Offer to Developmental Aid Effectiveness Research, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
2017
Bias and Equivalence of the Strengths Use and Deficit Correction Questionnaire in a South African Context, South African Journal of Human Resource Management
2017
Cognitive Development through Schooling and Everyday Life: A Natural Experiment among Kharwar Children in India, International Journal of Behavioral Development
2016
Bias and equivalence of the Strengths Use and Deficit Correction questionnaire., South African Journal of Industrial Psychology
2015
Contextualizing Intelligence in Assessment: The Next Step, Human Resource Management Review
2014
Development and Analysis of the Psychometric Properties of a Short Form of the Orientations to Happiness Questionnaire in German-Speaking Countries, Swiss Journal of Psychology
2011
The Assessment of Emotional Awareness in Children: Validation of the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale for Children, European Journal of Psychological Assessment
2009
Variation in Raven’s Progressive Matrices Scores across Time and Place, Learning and Individual Differences
2009
Schooling and Basic Aspects of Intelligence: A Natural Quasi-Experiment in Malawi, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
2006
Schooling and Everyday Cognitive Development among Kharwar Children in India: A Natural Experiment, International Journal of Behavioral Development
2004
A Historical Analysis of Empirical Studies Published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology: 1970-2004, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Professional Memberships
Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD)
International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP)