Tom Van Daele

Tom Van Daele serves as Research Line Coordinator for Psychology and Technology within the People and Well-being research group at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences. As a clinical psychologist with a PhD, he directs research on technology integration in mental healthcare across the School of Health's Department of Psychology. His work bridges clinical practice with digital innovation through collaborations with European institutions and healthcare providers.

His research focuses on digital mental health interventions, particularly virtual and augmented reality therapies for anxiety disorders, PTSD, and depression. Key interests include telepsychology implementation, wearable technology validation, and culturally-adapted technology acceptance models. His team develops practical tools like the m-Path platform for real-world therapy support and HoloLens-based exposure applications for specific phobias.

Van Daele's publication trends reveal strong emphasis on real-world implementation challenges - examining user adoption barriers, hardware comparisons (smartphone vs. HoloLens), and pandemic-driven telehealth transitions. His work consistently addresses the gap between technological potential and clinical feasibility, with recent studies focusing on cost-effective VR solutions and blended care models in community settings.

He actively contributes to European initiatives including the EFPA eHealth Taskforce and eMEN project, authoring policy recommendations for telepsychotherapy. His book ePsychologie: Over technologie in therapie (2019) established foundational frameworks for technology integration in Flemish mental healthcare.

As project lead for initiatives like GREAT (enhancing mental healthcare across Northwest Europe) and ZeroOCD, he directs translational research from lab to practice. His team operates the Experience Hub in Antwerp for hands-on technology demonstrations, while collaborating with LiCalab on XR validation studies. Current work explores AI applications in mental health through the AI-CARES project.