She holds a Master’s degree in Cognitive Psychology (University of Groningen), a PhD in Health Psychology and Psychophysiology (University of Aberdeen, Scotland) and completed postdoctoral research in neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, where she specialised in stress, neuroanatomy and functional neuroimaging. She has also worked at the Social Neuroscience Lab at New York University and taught Methodology and Advanced Statistics at VU Amsterdam before joining Amsterdam University College in 2012 as a tutor and lecturer.

Alongside her scientific career, Ydwine pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts & Design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam (class of ’23). Her artistic practice, through drawing, installation and performance, explores the poetic and speculative dimensions of human–animal relationships, informed by posthumanist theory. She has exhibited internationally, including Sea the Sublime at Fish Factory Arts Space (UK) and her graduation show Interspecies Interfaces at Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, as well as a combined residency and group exhibition at the School for Multispecies Knowledges at Zone2Source.

Ydwine teaches courses in psychology, academic writing, methodology and statistics at AUC. In addition, she teaches the interdisciplinary course Imagination in Theory and Practice at the UvA Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences. Her dual background as a scientist and artist underpins her broader initiatives in science communication, creative consulting and educational innovation.