Sometimes you have to reach for the stars

Dear Jane, dear Kelly, dear Judith

This blog is an attempt to get you on my PhD team.

Jane I need you as an expert in Game Psychology. Kelly I need you as an expert in Health Psychology. Judith I need you as an expert on Social Media (but as we share this blog, you are already on my team ;)). My PhD supervising Professor will be Professor Dr. Sandra Beurskens (Maastricht University/Zuyd University of Applied Science)  and she is, like you are, a great inspiration.

But what have I offer to you? Well anything is negotiable 😉 but what I can offer before our negotiations start is:

1. I want to research: gaming psychology, health psychology and the combination of those worlds (like in Superbetter) as you both (Jane and Kelly) are ‘founding sisters’ of this game, perhaps further research on in would be convincing
2. In the Dutch system of becoming an PhD, you supposed to publish approximately 4 articles in several Journals. The supervising professor and supervising experts will be named as co-writers 🙂
3. Improving your Stress levels by letting you take care of someone you don’t really now yet is good! (At least there is some fuzz about that?)
4. Jane’s Rules number 9 applies: Have more fun with strangers!
5. If after you have (both! wow!) answered several of my tweets don’t see me as a stranger anymore then: Jane’s Rules number 7 applies: Participate wholeheartedly whenever, wherever you can.
6. This will be a process of approx. three to four years, while I am working as a Senior Lecturer at Zuyd University. During that time I will be trying to create several Games for our education. (For instance we have created a game called DigiCoach the Game, where young teachers (K12) play a game in which they are taught to cope with technology in their classroom).
7. You will receive the first accounts of Inspiration the online deck building game, where you have your own cards and action called: Twinspiration.
8. I am a Nike+ runner, have a dog named Koda (courtesy of Disney), I am training my willpower and ‘preach’ from your books (The Willpower Instinct and Reality is Broken)
9. It will be a great opportunity to visit the Netherlands in a few years (at the end of my quest) and you will have a personal guide, lodging place and some fancy restaurants trips 😉
10. My research will involve trying to cope the problem of a society that shifts responsibility from national government towards communities and individuals and tries to combine (techniques from) SuperBetter and Elise (see the first concept of my plan here: https://2bejammed.org/2013/09/15/the-2-b-phd-concept-research-plan/) So Jane’s Rules number 11 applies: Contribute to a sustainable engagement economy.
11. I will owe you a poem.

There are more than 11 reasons, but those won’t be clear until you know me better 😉 I am visiting the Educause conference in October (Jane will be key-noting there) and I am available to give some coffee or even other bribing materials like chocolate 🙂 My colleague and our both partners are combining the conference with a trip through California (and your Universities or the SuperBetter Labs headquarters are not far from our trip route ;))

Please consider being on my team. I know that you haven’t got a lot of time, but this may be a great opportunity to combine your efforts on resilience research, on gaming and health psychology research and on community building through gaming research into a PhD research in the Netherlands. And perhaps I can become your inspiring connection to the south of the Netherlands.

Last Friday I used both of your quotes when I had the opportunity to wed a young couple! Your books, TED Talks did that! I hope that you both are willing to help me to translate your ideas into research and publications. Online, from a distance and perhaps when I am visiting the states. But in cooperation with each other. That, for me, will be a #12 (Epic win)

With kind regards

Marcel Schmitz

www.twitter.com/marcelschmitz (Yep one of the 1000 people both of you reply to – which is great!)