Asja Prodan is a PhD candidate within the SocialSelves Lab and GUTS consortium at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. During her previous training in Cognitive Neuropsychology, she developed an interest in the neural mechanisms underlying mental health and the factors that shape them. Her PhD project focuses on intrinsic brain network connectivity in adolescents experiencing depressive symptoms, with particular attention to hormonal changes during this developmental period. By combining neuroimaging with behavioural and biological measures, she aims to improve our understanding of how depressive symptoms develop during adolescence and how they can be detected at an early stage.