Magazine staff

Pascal Vrtička

Dr Pascal Vrtička is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Essex in Colchester, United Kingdom. Previously, he studied biochemistry and neurobiology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and completed a PhD in neuroscience at the University of Geneva (Switzerland). He then held several research positions at Stanford University (Palo Alto, USA) and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (Leipzig, Germany). His research focuses on the neurobiological basis of social interaction using various neuroimaging methods—primarily functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for single individuals and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning for interacting pairs (adult and parent-child dyads). In doing so, he is particularly interested in interindividual differences in relationship quality from an attachment theory perspective. Website: pvrticka.com; X: @PVrticka; Bluesky: @pvrticka.bsky.social

Bastiaan Rutjens

 Bastiaan Rutjens received his PhD at the University of Amsterdam in 2012. After working as a postdoctoral fellow at UBC (Vancouver) for one year, he returned to the Social Psychology department in Amsterdam in the spring of 2013.

Maike Ramrath

Maike Ramrath is part of In-Mind magazine's Social Media Team. She holds a Master of Science in Applied Cognitive and Media Science from the University of Duisburg-Essen and is currently pursuing a PhD in Psychology at the University of Wuppertal. Her research interests include human-technology-interaction and organizational psychology, with her doctoral research primarily focusing on critical system information in high-risk-work-environments. Additionally, she is an active member of the User Research working group of the German UPA. ramrath[at]uni-wuppertal.de

Cathleen Clerkin

Cathleen Clerkin is a research faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina. Cathleen is an interdisiplinary psychologist whose work draws upon organizational psychology, social and personality psychology, political science, and social cognitive neuroscience. Her recent research has examined the integration of multiple social identities, the link between identity management and creativity, innovation in the workplace, women in STEM, and penalties faced by women and minority leaders. Cathleen earned her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.        

Sara Holland Levin

Sara Holland Levin (Ph.D., University of Connecticut) is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Media at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Her research area focuses on political communication, misinformation, and social media. Specifically, her work uses computational and survey methods to explore topics of politicization and polarization, especially concerning traditional and social media as sources of information.

Sam Portnow

Bianca Tallone

Bianca Tallone is a PhD student in Psychology and Cognitive Science at the University of Genoa. Her research interests include dehumanization, gender-based violence, social exclusion, and perceptions of time scarcity. She works under the supervision of Prof. Luca Andrighetto at the SIP Lab, University of Genoa.

Joanne Rechdan

Katherine Hoogesteyn

Katherine Hoogesteyn is a PhD candidate in the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate in Legal Psychology Program at Maastricht University and University of Portsmouth. Her line of research focuses on how the interview environment can influence key aspects of the interview process, namely rapport building and the disclosure of information. She is interested in how practitioners can use environmental manipulations as techniques to improve the interview process.

Linda Jonsson

Linda Jonsson, holds a PhD in medicine and is a lecturer in child and adolescent psychiatry at Barnafrid, Linköping university, Sweden. Her research focuses on child victims of sexual exploitation, especially online sexual abuse and young people selling sex.