Peter Nikken

Peter Nikken is a psychologist and a long-standing expert in the field of children, youth, and media. In 1999, he received his PhD from Leiden University with a dissertation on quality standards for children's television programming. Over the years, he has published numerous academic studies and popular articles on a wide range of topics related to children and media.

His primary research interests include the Dutch media rating system Kijkwijzer and the role of media literacy and parental mediation in children's use of the internet, video games, and television. He has also conducted research on advertising aimed at children, news coverage of terrorism and war for young audiences, and preschool children's perceptions of Sesame Street.

More recently, he has been involved in research examining the potential influence of sexual content in the media on adolescent development. Until the end of 2006, Nikken was Head of the Expertise Centre for Youth and Media at the Netherlands Institute for Care and Welfare (NIZW). He subsequently joined the Netherlands Youth Institute (Nederlands Jeugdinstituut).

In addition, he has served on a number of advisory committees, including the NPS Programme Council, the Scientific Committee of NICAM/Kijkwijzer, and the advisory boards of Het Zandkasteel (Teleac/NOT), the Weet Wat Je Ziet Foundation, and the Mijn Kind Online Foundation.