Merel Griffith – Lendering, born and raised in Curaçao, has a background in health psychology. She earned her PhD from Leiden University in 2013. Since 2010, she has been actively involved in various scientific and practice-oriented research projects across the CAS islands (Curaçao, Aruba, Sint Maarten) and the BES islands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba).

With her expertise, Merel has led multidisciplinary research initiatives on a wide range of topics, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), poverty and youth/education, domestic violence and child abuse, and parenting styles. She has successfully established and coordinated research lines, leveraging her extensive network to collaborate effectively with universities, governmental bodies, NGOs, and international organizations such as UNICEF.

Merel excels in translating data into actionable knowledge. Her work spans the development of online databases to creating reports, quick scans, factsheets, websites, and social media content. With her exceptional communication skills, she brings together professionals from diverse disciplines and inspires them to apply the generated insights in practice.