Fleur Smilde obtained her bachelor's in Liberal Arts and Sciences at Tilburg University, with a minor in psychology and a major in cognitive neuroscience. During her master's program in Cognitive Neuroscience at Radboud University she gained experience as a teaching assistant for various BSc psychology courses and as research assistant for the Max Planck Insitute of Psycholinguistics. She completed her MSc degree with an internship and thesis guided by Renée Koolschijn and Hanneke den Ouden, focussing on the role of serotonin in a foraging task in humans.

Currently, Fleur is a PhD candidate in the Cognitive and Affective Neurosicence lab headed by Erno Hermans at the Donders Institute in Nijmegen, investigating neural mechanisms of work-related stress and resilience.