Dion's Bio

My name is Dion Richardson. I was born and raised in Haarlem (the Netherlands), and a little bit on St. Maarten. I still live in Haarlem while studying at the UvA, where I started a psychology bachelor 5 years ago. After two years I noticed that my interests (and skills) were more towards the biological aspect and decided to take a different direction. Trying to combine the two I decided to study psychobiology. The first year is almost the same as biology and biomedical sciences, which resulted in switching to biomedical science.

I did this to extend my knowledge on the molecular and cell level, making sure I knew the basics as good as possible. I was still studying psychology part-time, so I was kind of able to combine the two in a psycho-biological approach. During my bachelor in biomedical sciences I also made sure it was focused on neuroscience, choosing electives like neurobiology and neuropharmacology. I also decided to do an internship instead of writing a research proposal, so I would get a better idea of working in a lab. The internship was focused on a serotonin receptor (5-HT3R, a ligand-gated ion channel), and really gave me a good idea of what to expect in the future. To get some interdisciplinary input I also choose to do an honours-programme during my bachelor, which I enjoyed very much.

While finishing of my bio-medical science bachelor I decided to study Brain and Cognitive sciences, the neuroscience track, hoping to combine all of my interests. I just started my first research project for this master, working on the same receptor as I did during my bachelor, so we’ll see where things end up.

I really enjoy subjects like work and organizational psychology and intercultural competencies. For that reason there is a good chance that I will try to combine these interests in the future.

Eventually there are ambitions to combine a research background with different fields, however for the coming 6 years you will most likely spot me doing research in neuroscience.