Pre-conference workshops

Don’t miss the opportunity to participate in the pre-conference workshops on Monday, August 25th!

During these workshops you will be able to strengthen your skills in longitudinal data analysis, gain valuable insight into the ways your research could have greater publicity and impact, get familiar with new evidence-based intervention approaches and more.

And of course, get acquainted with our brilliant and lively workshop organisers!

Title:
Structural Equation Modeling in Developmental Psychology: Longitudinal and Experimental Data Analysis Techniques

Duration:
4 hours

Organiser:
Dr. Inga Truskauskaitė

Professional BIO:
Dr. Inga Truskauskaitė is a developmental psychologist and associate professor at Vilnius University’s Psychology Institute. With extensive expertise in statistical data analysis, she specializes in longitudinal and experimental research methodologies. Her research focuses on adolescent and youth development, positive mental health, identity, stress, and intervention program design and evaluation. Dr. I. Truskauskaitė has significant experience publishing research in international peer-reviewed journals and teaching advanced statistical analysis to undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral psychology students.

Summary:
This hands-on workshop focuses on advanced applications of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) in developmental and intervention research. Participants will learn how to analyze longitudinal and experimental data using various SEM techniques, progressing from basic to more complex models. The workshop covers essential longitudinal approaches, including latent change models, latent growth curves, and cross-lagged panel models. Special attention will be given to conditional models incorporating experimental conditions, with emphasis on testing intervention effectiveness and analyzing factorial experimental designs. Participants will learn how to model intervention effects on growth trajectories and handle multiple treatment conditions. The workshop will also address practical challenges such as multiple group analysis and missing data handling. This workshop is designed for researchers and doctoral students who have basic knowledge of SEM and are interested in applying these methods to analyze developmental processes and intervention effects. Participants will gain hands-on experience in model specification, estimation, and interpretation of results in the context of developmental research.

Requirements:
Participants should bring their laptops with their regularly used SEM software (e.g., Mplus, AMOS, R, or similar). Participants are encouraged to bring their own longitudinal or experimental datasets to discuss potential analytical approaches during the workshop.

Title:
From Developmental Science to Societal Impact

Duration:
4 hours

Organiser:
Lysanne te Brinke and Maria Chiara Basilici on behalf of ERU board

Professional BIO:
Lysanne te Brinke is an Assistant Professor at the Clinical Psychology section of Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on how adolescents can become ‘agents of change’ by actively contributing to societal challenges. As lead of a transdisciplinary project on youth participation and involvement, she involves the perspective of multiple stakeholders in her work (i.e., Living Lab approaches). Lysanne is also co-leader of the YoungXperts platform for youth participation in research. This platform integrate voices and opinions of youth in research.

Maria Chiara Basilici is a Post-Doc at the Laboratory of Longitudinal Studies in Developmental Psychology at the University of Florence, Italy. Her research mainly focuses on adolescents, particularly on ethnic bullying and ethnic diversity in schools. She also collaborates with ‘Piattaforma Elisa’, an E-Learning platform dedicated to training teachers on anti-bullying strategies, involving Italian school principals and teachers. Recently, she began working on a project dedicated to fostering future orientation in adolescents, with the goal of designing and implementing a targeted intervention.

Summary:
When conducting developmental research, we all face similar challenges, but these challenges are rarely reflected in our scientific papers or training programs. Questions such as, How can the results of our research be useful to the society we live in? How to translate our science to a broader public without being too unnuanced? How to incorporate the lived experiences of children, youth, and families into our work? To address these challenges, this interactive pre-conference workshop, organized by the EADP’s Early Researchers Union Board, focuses on creating societal impact through science communication and participatory research methods.

In the first part of this workshop, we will focus on making developmental research of value to societal stakeholders such as teachers, parents, clinicians, and youth, through science communication and engagement methods.  Different science communication methods (e.g., outreach) will be covered: from blog-writing to communication via traditional and social media. The workshop organizers share successful outreach projects, including tips and tricks for dissemination. Subsequently, the attendees will work on their own outreach-strategy.

In the second part of this workshop, we will explore how to effectively integrate participatory research methods into developmental research, in order to strengthen research-to-action processes. Through practical examples and tips, attendees will learn how to involve their target groups at different stages of the research process. Moreover, we will cover how to build inclusive, sustainable, and equitable partnerships. Lastly, the attendees will work on a strategy to incorporate co-creation and design-thinking approaches into their own projects.

Requirements:
Please bring your own laptops

Title:
Preventing Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents

Duration:
4 hours

Organiser:
Prof. Cecilia A. Essau

Professional BIO:
Cecilia A. Essau is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Roehampton, UK. She is also Expert in the Family Justice System, and a Scientific Advisor at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the dissemination of a “Treatnet Family Intervention”, an evidence-based training package for adolescents with drug use disorders.

Professor Essau is a recipient of the Norman Munn Distinguished Visiting Scholar from Flinders University (Australia), Distinguished Visiting Professorship from De La Salle University (Philippines), and the Florey Medical Research Foundation Mental Health Visiting Professorship from the University of Adelaide (Australia). She had Visiting Professorial appointments at Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz (Austria), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (Malaysia), and Uniwersytet Opolski (Poland).  In August 2019, she was Singapore’s Ministry of Health HMDP (Health Manpower Development Plan) Visiting Expert in Young Children with emotional and/or behavioural problems.

In 2011, she was made Fellow of the British Psychological Society in recognition of her contribution to the field of Psychology. She is also Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

In 2025, she received the Distinguished Contribution Award from the British Psychological Society Developmental Psychology Section as a recognition for her significant and substantial contribution to the field.

Cecilia is the author of 313 scientific articles and is the author/editor of 23 books in youth mental health. She is also a co-developer of the Super Skills for Life (SSL), a program which equip children and adolescents with skills to deal with situations that in previous times would have caused them anxiety and been challenging. By using a “train-the-trainer approach”, SSL training has built capacity and shaped the practice of 26,000 practitioners and has produced positive mental health outcomes in approximately one million young people in 23 countries.

Summary:
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has a strong evidence base for preventing anxiety and depression in adolescents, with up to 65% of adolescents showed significant improvement in anxiety- and depression-related outcomes to CBT. Despite strong evidence that lifestyle factors (e.g., exercise, diet and sleep), benefit mental health, intervention programmes that integrate healthy lifestyle habits within CBT-based interventions to address anxiety and depression are currently lacking.

This workshop will focus on “Super Skills for Life” program (SSL), a transdiagnostic CBT-based programme for preventing anxiety and depression and for promoting healthy lifestyles. SSL focuses on: (1) promoting healthy lifestyles; (2) building emotional resilience through stress management; (3) encouraging peer learning and building peer networks; and (4) promoting self-confidence and social skills. For more information about SSL, please go to:  https://www.cecilia-essau.com/psychological-intervention

Key Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of the workshop, participants should have a good knowledge of:

  • The prevalence, comorbidity, course, and cultural manifestations of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents.
  •  The core components of the SSL.
  •  Skills in delivering the core components of the SSL.
  •  Barriers and challenges in adapting evidence-based CBT-based intervention across cultures.

Training Modalities: Techniques used in the SSL will be described and illustrated through lecture, role play, and video clips.

Additional information:
Essau, C.A. & Ollendick, T.H. (Ed.) (2013). The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of the treatment of childhood anxiety. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.