Gaby Jacobs (1970) is professor of Chaplaincy Studies and chair of the research group on Meaningful Living and Chaplaincy Studies. She is also chair and research leader of the Knowledge Centre on Spiritual Care in The Netherlands. Her research aims at the development of professional and community-based practices of spiritual care and empowerment. 

Gaby graduated in social psychology and women's studies at the University of Tilburg and Utrecht University and obtained her PhD in 2001 at the University for Humanistics in Utrecht on the subject of 'empowerment' in Humanistic Counseling and feminist mental healthcare (The paradox of strength and vulnerability: empowerment in feminist mental healthcare and humanistic counceling Amsterdam: SWP, 2001). She has worked as a researcher and lecturer at the University for Humanistics and at Keele University (England) and has led research projects in the broad field of care, welfare, health promotion and education, on the topics of participation and empowerment, diversity and social inclusion, values and professionalization. From 2009 to 2018 she was a professor at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, where she headed research programs on 'Professional values ​​in critical dialogue' and 'Person-centred practice in care and welfare'.