Past Speakers
Ms. Ielyzaveta Bashenko
Ielyzaveta Bashenko is a relocated Ukrainian, who is studying for a Master’s in Psychology (Conversion) at Roehampton University. Her experience as a Personal Assistant at Kyiv Montessori School, working with children facing mental health challenges, deepened her commitment to compassionate, trauma informed care. Through this work, she discovered her interest in understanding trauma and supporting emotional resilience. Ielyzaveta’s interests focus on emotional triggers, post-traumatic behavior, and the learning crisis among veterans. Multilingual in English, Ukrainian, and Russian, she aims to make psychological support more accessible across diverse cultures and communities. With a goal of joining the British Psychological Society, Ielyzaveta is committed to advancing practical, inclusive approaches to mental health through both academic research and lived experience.
Her journey reflects strength, empathy, and a deep desire to contribute meaningfully to the global mental health field.”
Ms. Qingqing Shi
She is a Master's student in Education at Beijing Normal University, China. Their research group focuses on how physical activity affects the physical and mental health of children and adolescents and the underlying brain mechanisms. She is especially interested in emotion, social psychology, and individual differences. Currently, she is leading a postgraduate research project titled "Emotion Regulation Mechanisms and Exercise Interventions in Fair Decision-Making Among Individuals with High Trait Anxiety." This study explores how personality traits and emotional perception influence social decision-making to inform educational and psychological interventions.
Ms. Thoinu Karam
She is a doctoral student in Child Development and Family Studies at Seoul National University, South Korea. Her research focuses on family caregiving networks and the resilience that emerges within caregiver relationships. She is particularly interested in how caregiving responsibilities are negotiated across generations and how perceptions of fairness, emotional ambivalence, and role distribution influence the well-being of joint caregivers. Her current work involves qualitative research on caregiver dyads—specifically, spouse and adult child caregivers—who are jointly caring for a family member in a persistent vegetative state. She approaches her research through interdisciplinary lenses, integrating concepts from family systems theory, resilience studies, and cultural perspectives on care. She aims to contribute to the development of culturally sensitive interventions and policies that support families in long-term caregiving contexts. She holds a master’s degree from the same department and am deeply committed to advancing family-centered research and practice, especially in underrepresented caregiving settings.
Dr. Martha Höfler
Dr. Martha Höfler is working as a researcher, consultant and coach in Bonn, Germany, at ResilienzExpertise (https://www.resilienz-expertise.de). Since 2010 her research focus is on psychology, education and resilience topics. In 2016, she did her doctorate on promoting resilience in adults.
Dr. Roni Gez-Langerman
Dr. Roni Gez-Langerman is a lecturer at Kaye Academic College of Education, teaching in Early Childhood and Special Education programs.Her Ph.D. at Bar-Ilan University (2014) dealt with the resilience of Israeli society in crises.Current research explores listening skills and empathy in early childhood education.Her work provides comprehensive insights into educational and psychological processes affecting children, educators, and families.
Dr. Aishath Ali Naaz
Dr. Aishath Ali Naaz, has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from The University of Manchester, U.K, M. Phil Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS, MSc, Psychology, (B.A), India, Diploma in Hypnotherapy, UK, CBT certification from Oxford CBT Training Centre (2010), UK. DBT and EMDR level one training, UK. She is the first licensed clinical psychologist of the Maldives and has received National Award in recognition of her services in developing Mental Health Services in the Maldives (2012).
Romualda Rimasiute-Knabikiene
Romualda Rimasiute-Knabikiene is a lecturer and PhD student at the Institute of Psychology at Mykolas Romeris University in Vilnius, Lithuania. She is a clinical psychologist holding the EuroPsy certificate in health and clinical psychology. Her areas of interest include the relationship between mental and physical health, educational processes, and peer-to-peer confirmation.
Zainab Muhammad
Zainab Muhammad is a master's student in Defense, security, and crisis management at IRIS SUP. She is writing her dissertation on brain weaponization in digital cognitive warfare. She is also a project management apprentice at Holcim in the Security & Resilience department and head of the cyberspace research lab at CEDIRE. Ms. Muhammad has a keen interest in the geopolitics of South Asia and the Middle East as well as influence cyber operations and cognitive warfare.
Severin Hornung
Severin Hornung, co-founder of University of Innsbruck’s Group on Critical Research in Work and Organizational Psychology (I-CROP) and international Future of Work and Organizational Psychology (FoWOP) network, researches neoliberal degradation and envisioned socio-ecological transformation of work, organizations, and employment, focused on power and control, inequality and justice, mental health, and ethical concerns, aimed at promoting critical and radical humanist perspectives.
Wern Tje Lim
Wern Tje Lim (BSc [Hons]) is New Zealand-born Malaysian Chinese. She is a Doctor of Clinical Psychology candidate at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her thesis is on non-Māori (non-indigenous) clinical psychologists’ experiences of seeking cultural competency and working with Māori clients. She is interested in the impact race and culture has on the personal and professional lives of psychologists.
Dr. Hila Cohen
Dr. Hila Cohen is a researcher, therapist, and lecturer at the Kaye Academic College of Education in Israel. She teaches mindfulness, organizational, developmental, and social psychology courses, and Resilience Care Coordinator. She holds a PhD and postdoctoral fellowship from the Department of Business Administration at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Specializes in personality and individual differences, psychological aspects of the world of work, and entrepreneurship.
Prof. María Josefina Escobar holds a Ph.D. in Psychotherapy from the collaborative program of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), the University of Chile, and the University of Heidelberg, Germany. She has furthered her academic achievements with a Master’s degree in Psychotherapy from PUC and a Master’s degree in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology from the University of Chile. She takes on a leadership role by spearheading the research team dedicated to the areas of parenting, caregiving, and childhood within the School of Psychology. Dr. Escobar’s dedication to research extends globally as she actively participates in the international research network “International Investigation of Parental Burnout (IIPB),” which is led by the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. Her contributions to the field are evidenced by her authorship of more than fifteen scientific articles. Her research lines revolve around parenthood, parental burnout, neurodevelopment, and childhood care quality.
Dr. Agnese Venskus (BSc, MSc, Ph.D., FHEA) research lies within the area of cognitive neuropsychology and forensic psychology. Currently, she is focusing on exploring cognitive and neural processes underlying hallucinations and delusions in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and interventions alleviating these symptoms.