Dirk Hermans

Dirk Hermans is a Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium. He is a Clinical Psychologist and Behavior Therapist with a focus on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and experimental psychopathology. Currently, he serves as

• Director of the Research Unit 'Behavior, Health and Psychopathology'
• Director of KU Leuven's postgraduate CBT training
• Principal Investigator for the KU Leuven Center for Excellence (Generalization Research)
• Principal Investigator for KU Leuven's C1 program 'Extinction, Avoidance, Generalization'

Research Interests
His work centers on autobiographical memory and psychopathology and associative mechanisms of fear (extinction, generalization, avoidance). Key subfields include

• Exposure therapy for anxiety and related disorders
• Virtual reality applications in adolescent mental health
• Implementation science for evidence-based practices
• Posttraumatic stress in high-risk professions
• Repetitive negative thinking in emotional disorders

Scientific Contributions
Recent publications explore mechanisms in exposure therapy, virtual reality interventions for social anxiety in adolescents, and predictive models linking fear extinction to anxiety outcomes. His research is funded by grants such as

• KU Leuven Center for Excellence
• Hercules Foundation infrastructure grants
• European Meeting of Human Fear Conditioning

Notable Awards

• Fellow, Association for Psychological Science (2010–present)
• Fellow, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (2017–present)