Jolanda earned her PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 1997 and has held academic positions at the University of Queensland and the University of Exeter. She returned to the University of Queensland in 2007 as a Research Fellow and has since held ARC Future and UQ Development Fellowships, as well as the Belgian Francqui Fellowship (2018) and ARC Laureate Fellowship (2019–2024). Her research examines group processes, social identity, and intergroup relations, particularly their effects on mental health and well-being. She also studies economic inequality, collective responses to societal change, and resilience following disasters.
Jolanda has served as co-Chief Editor of leading journals and held presidential roles in professional societies. Her honours include the Spearman Medal, Kurt Lewin Medal, and Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Association of Social Psychology. She is a Fellow of ASSA and has served on Australian and European research councils, as well as the Australian Government’s BETA academic panel.