Magazine staff

John Doe

obtained her Research Master’s degree in Social and Organisational Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at Leiden University, The Netherlands. She was recently awarded a grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research to examine the effects of belonging on the academic performance of minority students. She also conducts research on the effects of (simulated) touch on social cognition.

Jeremias Braid

Jeremias Braid is a PhD student at the Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience and the Department of Psychology at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg in Austria. In his work, he investigates the effects of perceptual-cognitive virtual reality interventions on the cognitive abilities of soccer players. Both behavioral as well as neurobiological effects count to his areas of interest and are considered in his PhD project.
Twitter/X: @jeremias_braid

Suzanne van Gils

Suzanne van Gils completed her Bachelor in Social and Organizational Psychology at the Free University, Amsterdam. She currently is pursuing a Master of Science at the same university. While her previous research has focused on vicarious embarrassment, she currently studies relationships and emotions. Her aim within these two subfields in social psychology center around the study of mood contagion, power in relationships, and love. She is also the editor-in-chief of The Free Mind

Birte Siem

Birte Siem studied psychology at the University of Trier and the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and completed her PhD at the FernUniversität in Hagen. Since 2021, she is a professor of Social and Organizational Psychology of Social Work at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany. Her research focuses on intra- and intergroup processes, prosocial behavior, social inequality, and approaches to reducing stereotypes and prejudice.

Jarret Crawford

Jarret Crawford is an Associate Professor of Psychology at The College of New Jersey. He earned his PhD in Social Psychology from Rutgers University in 2008. His primary research interests are in political psychology and intergroup relations.

Dr. Vera Zamoscik

Vera Zamoscik is currently a researcher and lecturer in clinical and biological psychology at the University of Mannheim. Her work focuses on respiration-centered interventions and their role in mental health and stress management. Vera is also deeply engaged in emergency psychology, particularly in psychosocial emergency care for first responders, focusing on aspects such as implementing training and prevention, and studying the impact of critical incidents like the 2021 flood disaster in Germany. She earned her PhD from Heidelberg University, examining the role of sensory sensitivity and respiration patterns in mental health. Find more about Vera's work here. 

Matt Newman

Sylvia Dörfler

Sylvia Dörfler is a pre-doctoral researcher at the Research Centre Transitional Psychiatry of the Karl Landsteiner University of Health Science, which is concerned with topics regarding the mental health and mental illness of transition-age youth. She holds a master’s degree in psychology and a bachelor’s degree in nutrition science. Her research focuses on psychology and nutrition interactions.

Joanna Korman

Joanna Korman, Sc.M., M.Phil., is a Ph.D.  candidate at Brown University in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences. Her research explores how typically developing individuals and people on the autism spectrum solve the most challenging puzzles of social life.  As a part of Brown’s New Scientist and undergraduate advising initiatives, she has mentored first-generation and minority undergraduate women aspiring to careers in the sciences.   

Josanne van Dongen

Josanne van Dongen is an associate professor of Forensic Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where she is one of the founders and coordinators of the master's specialization Forensic and Legal Psychology. She is also director of the SAFER Lab, where forensic neuroscience research is carried out to promote a safer society. Van Dongen also leads the Regional Knowledge Hub for Concerning Behaviour in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region, where she has set up several projects for better care for people with concerning and challenging behaviour, in order to be able to offer better help to that target group.