Janneke Schwaner starts Neuromechanics of Movement research group

By using a unique combination of computational modeling and experimental approaches, Janneke aims to enhance the understanding of how muscle properties and sensory control enable agile locomotion.

“I am interested in understanding the underlying principles which make animals and humans such agile runners on uneven terrain. Why for example can ostriches master dents and holes while it runs over uneven terrain and we humans can run a forest trail without tripping? In coming years, my team and I are going to study the interaction between our sensory and our muscle skeletal system. After all, muscles are not only actuators in our body that make us move. They are also important sensors and integrators. I want a better understanding of how our muscles and the sensory system collaborate, compensate, and adapt”, says Janneke Schwaner.

In her lab, Janneke plans to bring the outdoor space inside the lab. “The idea is to build a track way where we are going to bring the outdoor space inside the lab. Under these controlled conditions, we want to understand and measure how we walk on uneven terrain.”

Originally from the Netherlands, Janneke received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Wageningen University, NL. She then moved to the USA to complete her Ph.D. in Biology at the University of Idaho from 2016 to 2020. Afterwards, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Irvine, USA from December 2020 to October 2023.

Between October 2023 and January 2025, Janneke was a EU-commission Marie Sklodowska Curie funded post-doctoral fellow at KU Leuven, Belgium. Since February 2025, Janneke worked as a Senior Researcher at VU Amsterdam. There she led a NWO (= Dutch Research Council) VENI talent scheme independent research project as a Principle Investigator, combining experimental approaches with computational modeling to further unravel locomotion over complex terrain.