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The Early Researchers Union is meant for doctoral students or post-docs (up to four years after the Ph.D.) primarily interested in developmental psychology or some aspects of developmental psychology. For more information on the council members (click here) and for more information about the union, see the minutes of our last meeting (click here). See also our facebook page (click here).
If you have any questions or want more information, please contact our chair, dr. Rens van de Schoot (email: a.g.j.vandeschoot@uu.nl).
 | President Rens van de Schoot, Utrecht University, the Netherlands |
Rens van de Schoot obtained his doctorate (cum laude) at Utrecht University, The Netherlands, with a dissertation on informative hypotheses and Bayesian statistics (click here). Currently, he is working at the methods and statistics department, Utrecht University. Besides his research on how to directly evaluate expectations, Rens collaborates with many developmental researchers from different fields on projects about identity development, immigrants and post traumatic stress. Finally, he takes part of different projects about the labour market position of PhD students.
Website: http://staff.fss.uu.nl/agjvandeschoot
Email: a.g.j.vandeschoot@uu.nl
Key publication: Van de Schoot, R., Hoijtink, H., et al. (2011). Evaluating Expectations about Negative Emotional States of Aggressive Boys using Bayesian Model Selection. Developmental Psychology, 47, 203-212
 | Secretary Radosveta Dimitrova, Tilburg University, the Netherlands |
Radosveta Dimitrova obtained her doctorate at Trieste University, Italy with a dissertation on immigrant families, which received the Best Doctoral Thesis Award by the Italian Psychological Association. Currently she is completing a second doctoral dissertation on identity and well-being of minority youth at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, which received the 2012 Dissertation Award from the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). She is also editing a book on well-being of immigrant families across Europe, Africa, Asia, North and Central America at Springer.
Research interests: Cross-Cultural Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Acculturation, Identity
Website: http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/webwijs/show/?uid=r.dimitrova
Email:R.Dimitrova@uvt.nl
Key publication: Dimitrova, R., Chasiotis, A., Bender, M., & van de Vijver, F. J. R. (2013). Collective identity and well-being of Roma adolescents in Bulgaria. International Journal of Psychology. doi:10.1080/00207594.2012.682064
 | Members - Stefanos Mastrotheodoros |
Stefanos is a PhD student in the University of Athens, Greece. His thesis subject relates to attachment, identity development, and adolescents’ goals for the future. He has a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Athens, and a post graduate degree in Cognitive Therapy. In order to partially fund his PhD research, he is currently working on a child liaison psychiatric clinic, where he mostly takes part in the psychological assessment of children.
Research Interests: personality, developmental psychology, identity development.
Email:stefmastr@psych.uoa.gr // mastrostefanos@gmail.com
Key publication: Mastrotheodoros, S., Dimitrova, R., Motti-Stefanidi, F., Abubakar, A., & van de Schoot, R. (2012). Measurement Invariance of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) across Bulgarian, Dutch, and Greek samples. European Journal of Developmental Psychology. DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2012.688099
 | | Yael Ponizovsky, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
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Yael is a PhD candidate and a social worker (MSW) specializing in the study of immigrant children and adolescents’ well-being and adjustment from a resilience perspective. Currently she is completing her doctoral dissertation on filial responsibilities, resiliency and adjustment of young immigrants at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is an assistant director and coordinator of NEVET- the greenhouse of context-informed research and training for children in need, as part of her participation in the Harry and Sylvia Hoffman leadership and responsibility program for excellent PhD students. She is also teaches courses on quantitative research methods, research design, developmental psychology and cultural sensitivity in social work.
Research Interests: Cross-Cultural Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Well-being, Adjustment.
Email:yael.ponizovsky@mail.huji.ac.il
Key publication: Ponizovsky, Y., Kurman, J., & Roer-Strier, D. (2012). When Role Reversal and Brokering Meet: Filial Responsibility Among Young Immigrants to Israel From the Former Soviet Union. Journal of Family Psychology. doi:10.1037/a0029913
| Marie Stievenart, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium |
Marie Stievenart obtained her doctorate at the Psychological Sciences Research Institute (Universite catholique de Louvain, Belgium) with a dissertation on young children's attachment representations impacting their externalizing behaviour. Currently, she is working as a post-doctoral fellow at Psychological Sciences Research Institute (Universite catholique de Louvain, Belgium) working on parenting related to children's executive functions.Besides her researches, Marie collaborates with many developmental researchers from different countries on attachment representations of young adopted adolescent, and their social adaptations. Finally, she also works as a clinician psychologist.
Website: http://www.uclouvain.be/marie.stievenart
Email:marie.stievenart@uclouvain.be
Key publication:Stievenart, Marie, Casonato, M., Muntean, Ana, & van de Schoot, R. (2012). Friends and Family Interview: Measurement invariance across Belgium and Romania. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9(6), 737-743. doi:10.1080/17405629.2012.689822
| Vanja Ljujic, Leiden University, the Netherlands |
Vanja Ljujic conducted her PhD research at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University. She is a member of the European Academic Network on Romani Studies and International Association of Cross Cultural Psychology. Her research focused on prejudice, perceived threat, nationalism, acculturation, political socialization and interethnic relationships
Email:v.ljujic@gmail.com
Key publication:Ljujic, V., Vedder, P., Dekker, H. & Geel, M. (2012). Romaphobia among Serbian and Dutch adolescents: The role of threat, nationalistic feelings and integrative orientations. International Journal of Psychology, oi:10.1080/00207594.2012.661060
 | Fitim Uka, University of Freiburg, Germany |
Fitim Uka is PhD student in the University of Freiburg, Germany. He has studied Learning Sciences, in Ludwig Maximilian University, which is an international master program in psychology, with focus on learning, instruction, cognition, emotion and development. He is running a study on effects of procrastination and perfectionism on achievement emotions. From March 2013, he is going to start a longitudinal study, which aims to identify the interplay of self regulation components, theory of mind, intelligence and their influence on school performance. Also, a cross cultural comparison, between children in Kosovo and Germany will be conducted. He is leading Psycho-Social and Medical Research Centre in Kosovo, which aims to develop research area in psychology and Medicine.
Research interests: Cognitive and developmental psychology, Cross cultural studies, Self regulation, Intelligence and school performance, counseling psychology
Website: http://www.psy.lmu.de/excellence/personen/assistant/kim/index.html
Email:fitim.u@gmail.com
 | Carmen Buzea, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania |
Carmen Buzea obtained her doctorate at Bucharest University with a dissertation on work motivation. Currently she is implementing a postdoctoral grant on Eastern European work culture. She is a lecturer in the Social Sciences and Communication Department of the Transilvania University of Brasov and coordinates the Communication and Social Innovation Research Centre, at the PRO-DD Research and Development Institute.
Research interests:human resource development, distributive justice, qualitative cross-cultural methodology
Website: www.carmen.en.buzea.ro
Email:carmen.buzea@unitbv.ro
 | Bin-Bin Chen, Fudan University, China |
Bin-Bin Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Fudan University, China. This year, he just obtained his doctorate at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China, with a dissertation on the evolutionary mating strategies among young adults. His current research interests include various aspects of child development and evolutionary psychology. Specific topics include parental practice, parent-child attachment, romantic attachment, peer relationships, social withdrawal, adolescent risk taking, and rural-to-urban migrant children’s social development. He was awarded Short Stay Fellowship at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, where he worked on the Dutch project of parental investment and sibling competition during the earlier month of the year 2012. This may be the first time that he collaborated with European researchers.
Research interests:Developmental Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Personal Relationship, Internal Migration
Website: http://cuhk.academia.edu/BinBinChen
Email:b-bchen@hotmail.com
Key publication:Chen, B.-B., & Chang, L. (2012). Adaptive insecure attachment and resource control strategies during middle childhood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 36, 389 – 397. doi: 10.1177/0165025412445440
 | Natalie Gorlova, Siberian Federal University, Russia |
Natalie obtained her specialist degree in Psychology at Russian State University for the Humanities, L.S.Vygotsky Institute for Psychology, Moscow, with a dissertation on psychological readiness of future managers towards their working career. She obtained her MA at University of Manchester, UK with a dissertation on psychological features of specialists of negotiations and conflict resolution. Currently she is completing her doctoral dissertation on developmental tasks of Adolescence and Youth, life and professional self-determination, autonomy, self-Identity, prospect planning. She is interested in studying searching for meaning in life during Youth.
Research interests:Developmental Psychology, Cross-Cultural Psychology, Acculturation.
Website: http://ipps.institute.sfu-kras.ru/node/44
Email:gorlova.natalie@gmail.com
Key publication:Gorlova N., Romanyuk L., Vanbrabant L., van de Schoot R. Meaning-in-life orientations and values in Youth: cross-cultural comparison. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 2012, 9 (6), p.744-750. DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2012.689823
 | Marta Casonato, University of Turin (Italy) and Lausanne (Switzerland) |
Marta Casonato is a PhD student. Currently she is at the end of her post-graduate course in co-tutorship between the Universities of Turin (Italy) and Lausanne (Switzerland). She obtained her Master degree cum laude in Developmental Psychology at the University of Turin, Italy, and currently she is working on her final dissertation about attachment in adoptive families. She is active part of a cross-country research project called “Attachment Adoption Adolescence Research Network”. As a psychologist, she also work with evidence-based attachment interventions.
Research interests:Dadoption, attachment, attachment measurement, developmental psychology.
Website: http://www.dott-sus.unito.it/do/studenti.pl/Show?_id=267951 // http://www.linkedin.com/pub/marta-casonato/a/ba2/a98
Email:marta.casonato@unito.it / marta.casonato@gmail.com
Key publication:Stievenart, M., Casonato, M., Muntean, A. & van de Schoot, R. (2012). The Friends and Family Interview: Measurement Invariance across Belgium and Romania. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9(6), 737-743. doi: 10.1080/17405629.689822
 | Lyudmyla Romanyuk, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev, Ukraine |
Lyudmyla obtained her Ph.D dissertation at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with entitled “Psychological factors of development students' value orientations” . Currently she is completing a second doctoral dissertation in developmental psychology on personality and values which received the 2011 scholarship from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Lyudmyla is preparing a monograph about a basic considerations in psychology on personality and values. Research Interests: Developmental Psychology, Personality, Values, Meaning
Website: http://www.lib.ua-ru.net/diss/cont/43897.html
Email:rslv2002@mail.ru
Key publication:Romanyuk, L. (2011). Students’ values becoming in learning psychology: technology and experience. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 4, 327–336
 | Sara Amalie O´Toole Thommessen, City University London |
My PhD research involves working with refugees who have experienced trauma in their country of origin and who face additional difficulties in the host society. More specifically, the focus is on the intergenerational transmission of trauma; the effect of parental trauma on their children’s development and children and adolescents who have experienced direct trauma. Pre- and post interventions, including a combination of qualitative and quantitative measures are presented before and after currently available interventions to measure changes in outcomes and meaning making. Moreover, innovative programmes are being implemented and assessed. The broad aim of the research is to improve the experiences of children and youth affected by trauma and to investigate the processes involved in the transmission of trauma between family members. Further goals include seeking to maximise the chance of positive long- term outcomes for individuals, families and societies and to focus on individuals' own resources and resilience in the process.
Research interests:Posttraumatic stress, intergenerational transmission of trauma, refugees, interventions, outcome measures, risk and resilience, unaccompanied and separated refugee children and youth.
Website: http://www.city.ac.uk
Email:Sara.Thommessen.1@city.ac.uk Telephone: 020 7040 4578
Key publication:Thommessen, S., Laghi, F., Cerrone, C., Baiocco, R. & Todd, B. K. (2013). Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms among Unaccompanied Refugee and Italian Adolescents, Children and Youth Services Review, 35, 7-10.
 | Humera Iqbal, University of Cambridge, UK |
Humera Iqbal obtained her doctorate in Psychology from the University of Cambridge in the UK. Her thesis explored parenting and family life in second generation South Asian and non-immigrant White families living in ethnically diverse areas in the UK. Of particular interest was the way in which mothers socialized their children around ethnicity and race issues in multicultural environments (see http://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/1297874 for a podcast about this work). She will soon begin working on a project relating to children’s and adult’s friendships across ethnicity and class in multicultural urban settings for the Institute of Education, University of London.
Research interests:children & families, parenting, immigration, ethnicity, ethnic-racial socialization, acculturation and multiculturalism.
Website: http://www.cfr.cam.ac.uk/about/people/HumeraIqbal.php
Email:h.iqbal@cantab.net
Key publication:Iqbal, H., forthcoming. Ethnic-Racial Socialisation in the UK: The use of Egalitarianism in explaining meanings of race and ethnicity in non-immigrant White and British South Asian Families. In, Dimitrova, Bender & Van de Vijver (Eds). Global Perspectives on Well Being in Immigrant Families, Springer.
 | Nives Sala, University of Turin, IT |
Nives Sala is a PhD candidate at the University of Turin. Her research interests focus on emotion regulation, attachment and the development of emotion competences on the affective relationship between the baby and the caregiver in normative and pathological contexts. She obtained her master degree in Clinical Psychology with a thesis investigating the relationships between Emotion Regulation and Defense Mechanisms.
Key publication:Sala, M.N., Molina, P., Abler, B., Kessler, H., Vanbrabant, L., Van de Schoot, L., (2012) Measurement Invariance of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). A cross national validity study. European Journal of Developmental Psychology.9 (6) 751-757 DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2012.690604
 | Oana Mocan, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania |
Oana is a PhD Student at the Department of Psychology, Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She is also a member of the Developmental Psychology Lab, therefore interested in Developmental Psychology research. Her PhD thesis is focused on attentional set-shifting in relation with trait anxiety in adolescents. This year she finished her Master in Clincal Psychology, psychological counseling and psychotherapy at the University Babes Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Research interests:Executive functions and trait anxiety during adolescence, Typical and atypical development, Attentional control and attentional set-shifting in children.
Email:oanamocan@psychology.ro
Key publication:Mocan, O., Stanciu, O., & Visu-Petra, L., (under review) Attentional set-shifting in children: Effects of individual differences in anxiety and attentional control. Anxiety, stress and coping.
