Valentien Taeldeman
Status: Phd researcher
Valentien Taeldeman obtained a Master of Science in Sociology at Ghent University. Her qualitative master’s thesis examined how intermediaries in Flemish integration policy perceive their role in making mental healthcare accessible to people with a migration background, under supervision of Dr. Melissa Ceuterick.
In March 2024, Valentien started as a PhD researcher at Hedera. Her quantitative PhD project explores ‘Linked lives’ as a life course principle in shaping preventive health practices and vaccine hesitancy, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Piet Bracke and Dr. Katrijn Delaruelle. She contributes to the BELSPO project DistantButClose, which studies loneliness and social isolation during health crises, and to the FWO project Divorce in Flanders II, focusing on union formation and dissolution.
Alongside her research, Valentien is a teaching assistant. She mainly teaches statistics to first-year students in the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences and to students in the bridging programme to sociology. In addition, she guides students in a Master’s seminar on culture and education and in a second-year bachelor course on sociological perspectives.