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“The Lyle S. Hallman Foundation invests in initiatives that support children as they learn and grow,” says Laura Manning, executive director. “Daniela O’Neill’s board games project was a wonderful fit with our priorities, given its emphasis on early development and community engagement.”

Congratulations, Dr. O'Neill!

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This fall, the University of Waterloo’s Health Initiatives team launched the Graham Seed Fund (GSF) and invited researchers to submit their proposals for innovative health-care solutions. The GSF strengthens the University’s health system partnerships by providing resources for collaborating directly with a full range of health providers and clinicians.

As a Vanier scholar, Jackson plans to build on the skills and knowledge he has acquired to become a leader in the field of developmental trauma. “I hope my research will contribute to the growing understanding of the wide-spread consequences of developmental trauma, including and beyond individual symptoms, and will serve to increase awareness about what individuals, families, communities, service providers, and policy makers can do to bolster their own and others’ ability to overcome adversity.”

Psychologically speaking, the inability to grasp the scope of human suffering may be something that's ingrained.

"Humans are evolutionarily disposed to care about and look after both ourselves and those to whom we are related," Ellard explains.

"I think those kinds of kinship-related responses probably go some way to accounting for why we might have more difficulty responding to news of thousands of people, including hundreds of young children, who drowned in the floods in Pakistan than we do the 31 people who were killed by Hurricane Fiona."

Congrats to Prof. Abby Scholer and Prof. Igor Grossmann, who have been named Fellows of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. This prestigious designation is conferred on individuals “who have made an extraordinary and distinctive contribution to the science of personality and social psychology.” Abby and Igor join 29 other international scholars on the list of 2022 Fellows, and are two of only 5 Canadians receiving the Fellow designation this year.

As lead author, Brady Roberts worked with his supervisors Myra Fernandes and Colin MacLeod, both UWaterloo professors in psychology, to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the past 60 years of research on the enactment effect. Meta-analyses chronicle what previous studies have shown and assess various factors in the studies including how study design influences the reliability of results.

The CACBT is a national organization by and for Canadian mental health practitioners involved in the practice and theory of cognitive behaviour therapy. The mandate includes: training, advancement of knowledge, advocacy, and accreditation in the practice of CBT. 

A well deserved congratulations to Dr. Purdon!

Big congratulations to UW Social Psychology CRC, Dr. Abby Scholer, on her election to the Executive Committee of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology. This comes as no surprise given Abby's steadfast dedication to the advancement of social psychological research. The term of the appointment will run for two years.  

Does spending a lot of time on your phone affect your parenting skills? According to Jasmine Zhang's research, recently featured on BBC news, parents who consume a lot of digital media to relax are more likely to be more irritable, to shout more at their kids, and to generally engage in negative parenting practices.

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Congratulations to Sophia Tran, Alyssa Smith, and Megan Kelly, who recently received awards for their presentations at CPA and CSBBCS!

Sophia Tran won the Peter Graf Award for Excellence in Brain and Cognitive Science Research for her talk entitled “Drawing Compared to Writing in a Diary Enhances Recall of Autobiographical Memories” at CPA in Calgary this June.