معرفی
Dr. Ann DeSmet is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at Ghent University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. With a PhD completed in 2015 on adolescent bystander behavior in cyberbullying and serious digital games for health promotion, she has established herself as a leading researcher in digital health interventions for adolescent populations.
Her research primarily focuses on cyberbullying prevention and physical activity promotion through innovative digital approaches. Dr. DeSmet specializes in developing and evaluating serious games, exergames, and mobile health applications designed to encourage healthy behaviors among youth. Her work examines user engagement, behavior change techniques, and the effectiveness of digital interventions across diverse adolescent populations.
Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong trajectory in evaluating digital health tools, with particular emphasis on validation studies for activity trackers, systematic reviews of serious games, and cluster-randomized controlled trials of narrative-driven exergames. Her research spans multiple disciplines including public health, behavioral science, computer science, and psychology, demonstrating interdisciplinary approach to health promotion.
Dr. DeSmet has supervised PhD students including Ayla Schwarz (2019) and Carmen Peuters (2022), indicating her active role in mentoring the next generation of researchers. She maintains extensive collaborations with colleagues at Ghent University, particularly with Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij (45 co-authored publications), Greet Cardon (18), and Geert Crombez (11).
Her research has been supported through multiple projects including the SmartLife initiative, which combines exergames and smart textiles to promote energy-related behaviors among adolescents. She has also contributed to large-scale international studies examining adolescent health behaviors across multiple countries.
