Team
Who’s who?
Team
Prof. Dr. Jozefien De Leersnyder
Principal Investigator
Daria-Maria Popa
Project coordinator
Aurélie Dewaele
PhD candidate
Dr. Anna Schouten
Post-doc researcher
Dr. Roy Konings
Post-doc researcher
Fedoua Lamrani
Academic staff
Ayse Kaplanlioglu
Research assistant Turkey
Serra Yasemin Buran
Research assistant Turkey
Collaborators
Prof. Dr. Karen Phalet
Dr. Katrín Árnadóttir
Prof. Dr. Saidi Benachour
Clara Deghilage
Advisory Board
Prof. Dr. Shinobu Kitayama
Prof. Dr. Mayumi Karasawa
Prof. Dr. Ayşe K. Üskül
Prof. Dr. Vivian Vignoles
Dr. Alexander Kirchner-Häusler
Dr. Fulya Özcanlı
Prof. Dr. Gregory Arief D. Liem
Prof. Dr. Jozefien De Leersnyder
Jozefien De Leersnyder is an Associate research Professor of social and cultural psychology at the KU Leuven. After obtaining her PhD in 2014 she was a Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellow and Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam, where she co-developed a novel Master in Cultural Psychology. Jozefien’s research aims to understand the interplay between culture, psyche, and thriving in diverse social worlds, with an eye for social justice in education.
In the past, Jozefien documented the phenomenon of emotional acculturation – that is, changes in people’s emotional life due to contact with another culture. Extending this work, her lab currently tests a novel cultural psychological account of acculturation that aims to re-think the concept of psychological acculturation itself: no longer as pertaining to immigrant minorities attitudes and identities only, but as a process of change in (all) core psychological that emerges from meaningful intercultural interactions and hence, affects all of us in diverse cultural worlds. This project called PsychAcc, is funded through an ERC Starting Grant and tackles how intercultural contact may bring about changes in both ethnic majority and minoritized adolescents’ self-construals, cognitions and motivations. By looking at links between adolescents’ (changing) psychological patterns and outcomes like well-being and school success, Jozefien’s lab aims to shed light on invisible systemic barriers to equity in education.
Jozefien’s commitment to equity in education is also tangible throughout her other research projects and collaborations. For instance, the ECDIS-project studies how primary schools approach cultural diversity and what impact that has on pupils’ outcomes (www.ECDIS.be), the JEZ-to-emotions project focuses how schools and teachers can provide culturally-responsive support to multilingual minoritized children’s emotion competence development (www.jeztoemotions.be), the SBO ENGINE project aims to tackle the ethnic gap in higher education, and in a subproject of the International Early Learning Study (www.IELS.be) Jozefien’s team aims to develop culturally-fair assessments of socio-emotional skills.
Jozefien has published extensively in leading journals and the major Handbooks of her field, delivered keynotes at international conferences, and received multiple awards, including the Belgian Association for Psychological Science Early Career Award and the prestigious quadrennial Young Investigator Award of the International Union for Psychological Sciences. Her work is funded through multiple independent funding agencies that guarantee researcher freedom within the constraints of ethical research for the greater common good.
Elected to the prestigious Young Academy of Belgium in 2018 and serving as its President from 2021 to 2023, Jozefien led initiatives to improve gender equality and socio-cultural diversity within academia. Beyond her academic research, she collaborates with schools and NGOs (in the past she was scientific advisor of School zonder Racisme), to disseminate and apply scientific insights in real-world settings. Through workshops and partnerships, she equips educators with tools to create supportive and inclusive environments for diverse student populations. Through her work on psychological acculturation and her ongoing collaborations, she seeks not only to advance scientific understanding but also to empower schools with tools to foster emotional competencies and create inclusive educational spaces for all.
Daria-Maria Popa
Daria is the project coordinator of PsychAcc and is excited to work closely with schools to create inclusive and supportive learning environments where every child has the opportunity to thrive. Daria earned an MBA in European public policy at KU Leuven and, as a Trainee at the European Commission, contributed to policy initiatives for the European Education Area, with a focus on promoting inclusivity in education. She conducted research on how student characteristics influence academic success. Based on her findings, she concluded that it is the unequal opportunities and inefficiencies within the education system that explain a significant portion of the decline in performance, rather than the characteristics of the students themselves. During her studies, Daria also volunteered to support and guide students from vulnerable backgrounds in their learning process. This experience gave her a deeper understanding of the challenges these students face and strengthened her determination to contribute to a fairer and more inclusive education system. Her belief in the power of a multicultural environment to foster meaningful growth in different areas for students motivates her to, through this project, contribute positively to schools and students in an increasingly diverse world. As part of PsychAcc, Daria will not only manage the daily operations of the project and lead the data collection process in schools in Belgium and Turkey but also work closely with schools to develop practical tools aimed at improving children’s mental well-being and ensuring all children feel at home in class.
Aurélie Dewaele
Aurélie focused her master’s thesis on the competencies of teachers in diversity-sensitive education, conducting a quantitative analysis to examine the relationship between teachers’ attitudes toward different forms of diversity and their self-efficacy for inclusion-related tasks. The aim of this research was to better support teachers in managing the increasing diversity in the classroom in the future, as well as to promote learning opportunities for all students. Additionally, during her internship, Aurélie had the opportunity to interview individuals with a migration background. This provided her with valuable insights into their experiences and challenges, further strengthening her desire to contribute to research in this area. As a doctoral student within the ERC project, Aurélie aims to build on these experiences and focus on identifying barriers that hinder equal learning opportunities. She is eager to share her knowledge and insights and collaborate on solutions that can have a positive impact on society.
Dr. Anna Schouten
Anna is a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Social and Cultural Psychology at KU Leuven, Belgium. During her doctoral research, she focused on the interaction between culture and emotions within romantic relationship interactions. She utilized laboratory interactions and observational methods to study how emotions unfold within partner interactions, how partners influence each other’s emotions, and whether culture shapes these dynamic emotional processes. Additionally, she employed daily diary methods to investigate cultural differences in couples’ relationship goals—what they find important and strive for in their relationships—and how these goals are related to emotions and behaviors. Through this research, she aimed to better understand why emotional experiences and behaviors vary across cultures. Within the ERC-project, Anna will apply and further develop her expertise in cultural psychology, emotion research, and observational methods to study how psychological processes such as emotions, cognition, and motivation change when individuals are exposed to a culture different from their own. Specifically, she will investigate microprocesses such as attunement and observation within intercultural interactions and analyze whether these processes can explain changes in psychological mechanisms.
Dr. Roy Konings
Roy has a background in cultural anthropology, development sociology, and migration studies and currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven. So far, he has developed two research lines. The first focuses on understanding why some people exhibit more ethnic prejudice than others. His second research line examines how schools address ethnocultural diversity and the effects this has on students. Within this second research line, Roy explored in his doctoral research, conducted as part of the ECDIS project (Ethnocultural Diversity in Schools), how schools’ diversity approaches are related to mathematics performance and students’ well-being at school. In his current research, he aims to integrate both research lines by investigating the role schools’ diversity approaches play in shaping students’ ethnic prejudices.
Fedoua Lamrani
Fedoua holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Social Work, as well as an educational master’s degree. For two years, she served as the coordinator of the ECDIS project (www.ECDIS.be), where she and the team investigated how primary schools address ethnocultural diversity and the impact this has on students’ well-being and academic performance. For the past three years, she has been a lecturer in the bachelor’s program in Social Work at KdG. Within PsychAcc, Fedoua will lead the cross-cultural study in Morocco and participate in focus groups with teachers. With her experience and expertise, she aims to build a bridge between research, education, and practice.
Ayşe Kaplanlioglu
Ayse transitioned into psychology after eight years of experience in telecommunications engineering. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and two master’s degrees in clinical psychology. In her first thesis, she investigated the effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on the alleviation of OCD symptoms. In her second thesis, she explored the mediating roles of decentering, rumination, and purpose in life in the relationship between mindfulness and symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Throughout her academic journey, Ayse actively participated in social responsibility projects focusing on women and adolescents, contributing as a volunteer. She served as a trainer in the PERGEL Project, led by Koç University, working on positive youth development. Ayse has expertise in data analysis, various psychotherapy approaches, social integration projects, positive youth development, and domestic violence.
Currently, she works as a psychotherapist, employing an eclectic approach that integrates cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with other methodologies. Passionate about bridging research, practice, and cultural contexts to enhance mental well-being and inclusivity in diverse settings, she strives to contribute to a deeper understanding of cross-cultural psychological processes and aims to develop practical solutions that empower individuals and communities.
As part of the PsychAcc project, Ayse will support cross-cultural research conducted in Turkey.
Serra Yasemin Buran
Yasemin is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in psychology at MEF University in Istanbul and has a strong interest in research within social psychology. She has a particular passion for topics such as group dynamics, cultural cohesion, minority rights, and social equality. Yasemin believes that the empathy and observational skills she has developed through her volunteer projects will enable her to conduct deeper and more meaningful analyses in her research. In the long term, she aims to pursue an academic career in social psychology and develop projects that make a positive impact on society.
Prof. Dr. Karen Phalet
Karen Phalet is a professor of psychology at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium. After obtaining her PhD in Psychology there in 1993, she worked at Utrecht University (Faculty of Social Sciences), first as Assistant Professor and later as Associate Professor. During 2005-2006, she accepted a special chair at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen. She remains affiliated with the Faculty of Social Sciences and a senior research fellow of the European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations (Ercomer) at Utrecht University. Her research interests include intergroup contact and conflict, acculturation, identity, emotion and motivation.
Dr. Katrín Árnadóttir
Katrín Árnadóttir is a post-doc at the Universities of Konstanz (Germany) and Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium). She defended her PhD in Psychology at the University of Leuven in March 2023. In her PhD, she investigated how minority experiences of positive and negative contact and their interplay inform both intergroup relations and intergroup (in)equality across various intergroup contexts. In her current post-doc position within a multidisciplinary team, she is investigating how and when perceptions of personal and institutional discrimination and inequality translate into collective action and support for social change towards equality.
Prof. Dr. Saidi Benachour
Prof. Dr. Benachour Saidi Prof. Dr. Benachour Saidi is an Assistant Professor of English Studies in the Department of Humanities and Soft Skills at Mohamed First University. Prior to this role, he lectured at the Higher School of Education and Training, Mohamed First University and was a guest lecturer at the Institute for German Studies and Intercultural Communication, Faculty of Humanities, Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany.
He is also a research member of both the Postdigital (Inter)culturality Lab at Chemnitz University and Applied Communication in Context at Mohamed First University.
Prof. Saidi’s research critically engages with the geopolitics of intercultural communication and education in peripheral contexts through the lenses of coloniality and decoloniality. His work also delves into the dynamics of acculturation in majority-group contexts, particularly within the Global South, exploring racial power structures and their repercussion on individuals’ psychological and cultural alterations.
His scholarly contributions have appeared in top-tier international journals, including:
- Language and Intercultural Communication
- British Journal of Educational Studies
- International Journal of Intercultural Relations
- Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education
- Saudi Journal of Language Studies
Momenteel is hij mederedacteur van een bundel getiteld:
“Decentering Racism in Intercultural Communication and Pedagogy: Perspectives from the Periphery”, die zal worden uitgegeven door Springer Nature.
Clara Deghilage
Clara is currently pursuing a Research Master’s in Migration, Ethnic Relations and Multiculturalism at Utrecht University. She previously completed a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Linguistics at UCLouvain. Passionate about interdisciplinary research, she is particularly interested in exploring individuals’ experiences in multilingual and multicultural contexts using insights from sociolinguistics and social and cultural psychology. Her main interests include intergroup and language contact, acculturation processes, social and ethnic inequalities, prejudice reduction, and the construction and negotiation of ethnic identity.
Prof. Dr. Ayşe K. Üskül
Ayşe K. Üskül is a social and cultural psychologist whose research explores the role of cultural and socio-ecological contexts in shaping self-related, interpersonal, and social cognitive processes. She earned her BA from Boğaziçi University, her MA from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and her Ph.D. from York University. Following a SSHRC-funded Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ayşe held academic positions at the University of Essex, Queen’s University Belfast, and the University of Kent before joining the University of Sussex in 2022.
Ayşe’s research spans topics such as the socio-economic foundations of interdependence, cultural conceptions of honor, and the intersection of culture and health behavior change. Her work has been supported by prestigious organizations, including the British Academy, the US National Science Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. Currently, she leads a European Research Council-funded project on the role of honor in social interactional processes (www.honorlogic.org), advancing comparative research on this critical cultural dimension.
A Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Ayşe has received numerous accolades, including the European Association of Social Psychology Mid-Career Award (2023), the Jenessa Shapiro Contributions to Diversity and Inclusion Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2023), and the Outstanding Contributions to Cultural Psychology Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2025).
In addition to her research, Ayşe contributes significantly to the academic community through editorial roles. She currently serves as Co-Editor of the European Review of Social Psychology (2023–2026) and has previously held associate editor positions with leading journals such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, European Journal of Social Psychology, and the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. Through her impactful research and editorial leadership, Ayşe continues to shape the field of social and cultural psychology.
Dr. Alexander Kirchner-Häusler
Alexander Kirchner-Häusler is a Program-Specific Assistant Professor at the Institute for the Future of Human Society (IFOHS) at Kyoto University, as well as an affiliated researcher at the University of Sussex and KU Leuven. He earned his BSc in Psychology from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, followed by an MSc in Applied Social Psychology from the University of Sussex in the UK. He then completed his Ph.D. in Cultural Psychology at KU Leuven in Belgium.
A cultural psychologist by training, Alexander’s work primarily focuses on the many connections between culture, relationships, and wellbeing, exploring how cultural contexts shape our psychological tendencies, social dynamics, and health. A central idea throughout his work is that the socio-cultural contexts people inhabit are fundamental to understanding how we live (e.g., our thoughts, feelings, actions) and how we live well: We all do not just exist “in a general way”, but are embedded in a complex web of “cultures” (e.g., our family, gender, social class, country) that shape our psyche, social worlds, and ideas about well-being.
In order to understand and contextualize these differences, his work draws upon diverse methodological and statistical approaches as well as cultural contexts (e.g., Anglo-West, Mediterranean, and East-Asia), with the explicit intent to move psychology beyond a universalist, Western-dominated perspective towards a globally representative and fair science.
Dr. Fulya Özcanlı
Fulya Özcanlı is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at MEF University, where she has been a faculty member since 2021. She teaches courses in personality theories, clinical psychology, and psychopathology. Fulya completed her Ph.D. in Psychology at KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) in Belgium in 2019, with a dissertation focused on cross-cultural similarities and differences in obsessions. Following her Ph.D., she continued her research at KU Leuven as a postdoctoral researcher for two years.
Her primary research interests lie in the socio-cultural components of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), the relationship between OCD, self, and morality, vulnerability factors that contribute to the development of psychopathology, and the interaction between culture and psychopathology. Through her work, Fulya aims to shed light on how cultural and psychological factors intertwine to influence mental health outcomes.
Fulya holds an MSc in Clinical Psychology from Doğuş University and a BA in Guidance and Psychological Counseling as well as Clinical Psychology from Boğaziçi University. Her research continues to explore the complex interplay between socio-cultural factors, personality traits, and mental health, particularly focusing on anxiety disorders, OCD, and personality disorders.
Prof. Dr. Shinobu Kitayama
Shinobu Kitayama, the Robert B. Zajonc Collegiate Professor of Psychology and Research Professor at the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the University of Michigan, is a pioneering figure in socio-cultural psychology. His groundbreaking exploration of the cultural diversity of mental processes has placed him at the forefront of this dynamic field. Kitayama’s research spans diverse areas, from cultural neuroscience to the study of interdependence in non-Western societies, offering profound insights into the psychological underpinnings of culture.
His transformative work has garnered numerous prestigious awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award, the Distinguished Scientific Contributions Award from the American Psychological Association, and the William James Fellow Award from the Association for Psychological Science (APS). In addition to his scholarly contributions, Kitayama has held prominent leadership roles, serving as APS President from 2020 to 2021. He currently serves as President-Elect of the Federation of the Associations for Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Prof. Dr. Mayumi Karasawa
Mayumi Karasawa is a professor of Cultural psychology and Developmental psychology at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University, investigating how culture and the mind shale one another. She has long conducted international comparisons across Europe, the U.S., and Asia to explore cultural contexts that influence the self and mental processes, and communication in multicultural societies with developmental aspects.
Her journey into cultural psychology began after studying psychology at her alma mater. A transformative experience at the University of Michigan, where she encountered culture shock, deepened her fascination. with understanding the hidden rules of the mind through cultural comparisons-much like learning a language to grasp the nuances of communication. At the Karasawa Laboratory, she examines how people develop their sense of self through relationships within family, school, society, and cultural products, using psychological methods to study the mind, culture, and communication.
Her research includes collaboration on diverse topics, such as happiness and health in Japan and the U.S., cultural validation of theory of mind, implicit pedagogy in preschool in Japan, US, and China, and the neural processes influenced by culture. Through her work, Karasawa continues to illuminate how culture shapes human cognition and well-being.
Prof. Dr. Gregory Arief D. Liem
Gregory Arief D. Liem is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the Psychology and Child & Human Development Academic Group, National Institute of Education (NIE), an institute of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. His teaching and research focus on educational psychology, with a particular emphasis on student motivation, engagement, and well-being. He examines these topics through a sociocultural lens and employs quantitative research methods.
Beyond his academic work, Gregory is actively involved in the scientific community. He serves as an Associate Editor for Educational Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology and is a member of the editorial board for several leading journals, including The Journal of Experimental Education, British Journal of Educational Psychology, Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, and Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools. Additionally, he is the editor of the book series Research on Sociocultural Influences on Motivation and Learning, published by Emerald (United Kingdom).
Through his research, Gregory contributes to a deeper understanding of how sociocultural factors shape student motivation and learning processes. His work aims to inform effective educational strategies that enhance student learning experiences and well-being across diverse cultural contexts.
