Friday 11 July 2014

Visiting speaker: Christine Hatchard, Mosaic Psychological Associates, LLC and Monmouth University, USA

Date, time, location: Monday 21st July, 4.00pm, room C210.

Title:
"Making the case: Considerations for conducting legal, ethical and comprehensive psychological evaluation for sexual abuse civil litigation"

Abstract:
The speaker will discuss her experience conducting psychological evaluations for civil litigation in New Jersey, United States, with a focus on sexual abuse and sexual harassment personal injury cases. An overview of the testing process, ethical challenges and legal considerations, such as statute of limitations, delayed discovery and establishing psychological damages will be presented. Concepts will be illustrated through the speaker’s own work, which has included plaintiffs from 3 to 60 years old, in cases against a range of defendants, including child protective services, churches, private preschools, public high schools and school districts, family members, teachers and neighbors. The speaker will also discuss her educational background and training, the risks and rewards of forensic work and the crucial role that Psychologists play in the successful resolution of lawsuits.

Bio:
Dr. Hatchard is a licensed clinical psychologist, forensic evaluator and Director of Mosaic Psychological Associates, LLC in New Jersey, United States. She is also an assistant professor at Monmouth University (NJ) where she holds several positions including Director of Undergraduate Psychology Research, Director of the Clinical Psychology Research Center and Field Placement Coordinator. In 1999, she founded and now directs Making Daughters Safe Again, a nonprofit organization, and through this work, is now recognized as a leading expert on the topic of female perpetrated sexual abuse. Dr. Hatchard has provided invited talks and trainings to a variety of audiences both nationally and internationally, and has been featured in newspaper, television, radio and film. http://mosaicpsych.com

Friday 4 July 2014

The Galton Institute Conference - Genetics in Medicine

THE GALTON INSTITUTE CONFERENCE: GENETICS IN MEDICINE
WHEN:  4 NOVEMBER, 2014

WHERE:  THE ROYAL SOCIETY, 6-9 CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE, LONDON SW1Y 5AG

TICKETS: FREE admission, strictly by ticket from:
The General Secretary, The Galton Institute
19 Northfields Prospect, London SW18 1PE
betty.nixon@talk21.com

www.galtoninstitute.org.uk

SPEAKERS:
Professor Sir John Burn: Overview of Genetic Medicine
Professor Sadaf Farooqi: Genetics and obesity
Professor Bobby Gaspar: Gene Therapy
Professor Andrew Hattersley, FRS: Using Genetics to improve care in Diabetes
Professor Nazneen Rahman: Genetics in cancer and treatment
Professor Sir David Weatherall, FRS: Summing up: what we have learned from genetics for medical care
Professor Andrew Wilkie, FRS: Lionel Penrose and the paternal age effect for mutations— sixty years on

Visiting speaker: Maria Markodimitraki, University of Crete

TitleThe development of language, emotions, imitation, and playful interactions in infants and young children: research methodology and protocols.


Time: Thursday July 10, 4:00, room C210.

Abstract:

The main research areas of the Cretan Research Team (Laboratories of Psychology in the Department of Philosophy and Social Studies, Department of Psychology and Department of Preschool Education) will be presented. More specifically, the presentation will focus on two life periods (infancy and preschool age), on issues we are interested in such as language development, emotions and developmental changes in human imitative ability. All these issues are investigated in a naturalistic context, in playful dyadic and triadic interactions. Finally, the methodological design of our studies will be described and the two main protocols which are used will be presented and analyzed. The most important findings will be discussed from the aspect of theory of innate intersubjectivity.

Bio:

Maria Markodimitraki (Heraklion, 1973) serves as Assistant Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Department of Preschool Education, University of Crete (Greece). She graduated from the Department of Philosophy and Social Studies of the University of Crete and got her PhD degree in Psychology at the same Department. She has taught as a scholar in Secondary Education. Since September 2003 she teaches at the Department of Preschool Education, University of Crete. She is married and mother of three children, a pair of dizygotic twins of different sex, aged 15, and a boy 10 years old. Her research interests focus on the development and training of typically and non-typically developing twin and non-twin infants and toddlers. Related articles have been published in psychology journals and conference proceedings in the Greek language and internationally. Within voluntary action to connect the University with local community and in cooperation with relevant agencies of Primary Education Dr. Markodimitraki organizes seminars counseling parents of twins and multiple. Maria Markodimitraki participates as scientific coordinator and research associate in research programs funded by ELKE

Wednesday 2 July 2014

Yvan Russell in Göttingen

Yvan Russell updates us on his visit to Göttingen:

I recently visited the University of Göttingen in Germany. This is where I was employed as a postdoctoral research fellow between May 2012 and April 2013. During that time, I was a member of the Courant Research Centre in the Evolution of Social Behaviour (CRC-ESB, see http://www.uni-goettingen.de/en/92425.html).  In Germany, research centres are often funded on a finite term. Hence, the CRC-ESB existed for six years and now it is due to close later this year. They were a very productive interdisciplinary entity comprising developmental, social and evolutionary psychologists, primatologists, behavioural economists, computer scientists, and biologists.  I worked with Prof. Dirk Semmann in his behavioural economics laboratory, where we were specifically interested in evolutionary issues. The CRC-ESB was an exciting and dynamic place to work, where some truly innovative work has been done. In May 2014, I revisited the laboratory for one of its final weeks of existence. This gave me the opportunity to collect a substantial amount of material which I will be able to write up as publications.  Furthermore, the visit gave me clarity on the future directions for this research and where I can pursue future associations and collaborations. Finally, it gave me an opportunity to say a proper goodbye to a workplace and city which I had really grown to love. Then, in June, I visited Göttingen once again because they had invited me to the symposium to mark the end of the CRC-ESB.  This was an academic conference, with attendance by invitation only. Here, the mind-boggling diversity of the research was presented over the course of two days. Speakers were a mixture of staff, students, and postdocs of the CRC-ESB, as well as some very prestigious external speakers. It would take too long to convey the intellectually enriching and fascinating talks and people that I met during these two days. One of my longer term goals is to try to recreate this kind of intellectual environment here at Middlesex University. I will maintain links to Göttingen University and other centres of excellence and this will help us to lay the groundwork for this kind of centre right here in Hendon.