Welcome to the International Contact Research Network

We bring together intergroup contact researchers from countries around the world to discuss their latest work, exchange ideas and strike up collaborations. See below to discover who is involved, join us if you are a contact researcher, or sign up to our newsletter to stay informed about our activities.

Welcome to the International Contact Research Network

Recent Announcements

Click here to see all announcements.

Special BJSP issue on ‘Contact seeking, contact avoidance and the enduring challenge of segregation’

The British Journal of Social Psychology will issue a special issue on ‘Contact seeking, contact avoidance and the enduring challenge of segregation’, edited by a range of ICRN members (John Dixon, Stefania Paolini, Chloe Bracegirdle, Patrick Kotzur, Marie-Therese Friehs) alongside Anna Stefaniak. Both empirical and theoretical papers are welcome; abstracts should be submitted as an expression of interest by the end of March 2025.

Dec 20, 2024 1 min read NA

Special BJSP issue on ‘Contact seeking, contact avoidance and the enduring challenge of segregation’

Join the SPSSI-SASP Peacebuilding academic-practitioner meeting, Bangkok 20-22 June 2025

We invite you to participate in an exciting international meeting – Peacebuilding through Conflict Transformation: Intraindividual, Interpersonal, Intergroup, and Global Processes – that will be held June 20-22, 2025 in Nonh Chock, Bangkok, Thailand. The conference will be hosted by the International Institute for Peace and Development Studies and limited in size (50 participants or less).

Stefania Paolini

Dec 19, 2024 2 min read events

Join the SPSSI-SASP Peacebuilding academic-practitioner meeting, Bangkok 20-22 June 2025

Contact Colloquium series will start soon

The ICRN will start a monthly Contact Colloquium from the 18th of October, where we will hear from leading researchers on intergroup contact and related fields and get a chance to discuss with them. The sessions are open to all; the schedule and registration links are now available here. Read more

Sep 27, 2024 1 min read events

Contact Colloquium series will start soon

Postdoctoral Research Associates in Social/Political Psychology (2 Positions available)

Applications are invited for two posts of Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute for the Study of Power, Crime, and Society, Royal Holloway, University of London. Location: Egham, UK Salary: £39,233 per annum - including London Allowance Post Type: Full Time Deadline: 23.59 hours BST on Thursday 22 August 2024

Michèle Birtel

Jul 25, 2024 3 min read jobs

Postdoctoral Research Associates in Social/Political Psychology (2 Positions available)

Post-Doctoral position in Social Psychology in Jena

Applicants are invited to apply for a full time post doctoral position commencing October 1st 2024 at the Department of Social Psychology at the Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany. The department of social psychology is strong in research on intergroup relations, cooperation and conflict within and between social groups, moral emotions, political ideology/ authoritarianism, recognition and reconciliation.

Michèle Birtel

Jul 11, 2024 2 min read jobs

Post-Doctoral position in Social Psychology in Jena

Funded Contact PhD Studentship at Birkbeck

Applicants are invited to apply for a fully funded PhD studentship in Organisational Psychology at Birkbeck in the Birkbeck Business School. The funding is provided by the charity Volkswagen Foundation and the title of this international project is ‘Overcoming Societal Tensions in Europe: Can Age-Diverse Friendships be the Solution?’ The research will use dyadic and social network analysis to explore secondary transfer effects of intergenerational workplace friendships to other groups and their conditions/mechanisms (Application deadline 25 July, 2024).

Jul 10, 2024 1 min read jobs

Funded Contact PhD Studentship at Birkbeck

Job opportunity: Assistant Professor in Psychology (Research & Education)

The Durham Psychology Department got approval to advertise the position of an Assistant Professor in Psychology (Research & Education) open to all areas. The post is advertised as ‘open to all areas’ because we currently do not know the exact number of finally approved posts. The outcome of the current planning round will be announced when student numbers are confirmed in autumn.

Jun 24, 2024 1 min read jobs

Job opportunity: Assistant Professor in Psychology (Research & Education)

Job opportunity: post-doc on structural and psychological antecedents of intergroup contact

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join the UEA School of Psychology to conduct studies on the drivers of intergroup contact engagement. In that role, you would work with Rose Meleady, Shelley McKeown-Jones, George Leckie and Belong, the Social Cohesion and Integration Charity. The project aims to identify structural and psychological antecedents of intergroup contact

Jun 20, 2024 1 min read jobs

Job opportunity: post-doc on structural and psychological antecedents of intergroup contact

First Network Summit Concluded

🌟 We just completed the inaugural summit of the new international Contact Research Network - thanks to the amazing colleagues who spent the last 2 days with us in London at Birkbeck!🌟 Our conversations highlighted some priorities and opportunities for future research👇 💡Contact interventions can promote understanding in schools (Lindsey), at work (Libby) and in conflict situations (Orkun), and reduce political polarisation (Michèle).

May 30, 2024 1 min read events

First Network Summit Concluded

Network Committee

Michèle Denise Birtel

University of Greenwich

Network Founder and Colloquium Organizer — Associate Professor of Social Clinical Psychology

Lukas Wallrich

Birkbeck Business School

Co-Chair. Podcast and Website — Lecturer in Organisational Psychology

Libby Drury

Birkbeck Business School

Co-Chair — Reader in Social and Organisational Psychology

Emine Bilgen

Royal Holloway, University of London

Newsletter and Podcast — PhD Student

Network Members

Aaron Lauterbach

Western Sydney University

PhD Student

Amina Memon

Royal Holloway University of London

Professor in Psychology

Beatriz Casquinho

ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon

PhD Candidate

Caitlin Baker

Aberystwyth University

Lecturer

Cassandra Crone

Macquarie University

PhD Candidate

Chiara Imperato

University of Parma, Italy

Post Doc

Chloe Bracegirdle

University of Oxford

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow

Danielle Blaylock

Queen’s University Belfast

Senior Lecturer

Deborah Shulman

University of East Anglia

Senior Research Associate

Diana Cheso

Royal Holloway, Univsersity of London

PhD Student

Ditte Barnoth

University of Newcastle (Australia)

PhD student

Elizaveta Komyaginskaya

Center for Sociocultural Research, HSE University

Emilio Paolo Visintin

University of Ferrara

Associate Professor in Social Psychology

Emily Haines

Flinders University

PhD Candidate

Eva G T Green

Université de Lausanne

Associate Professor

Fiona Barlow

University of Queensland

Professor

Francesca Prati

University of Bologna

Associate Professor of Social Psychology

Giovanni A. Travaglino

Royal Holloway, University of London

Professor of Social Psychology & Criminology

Gordon Hodson

Brock University

Distinguished Professor

Hanna Zagefka

Royal Holloway, University of London

Professor of Social Psychology

Hannah Peetz

Radboud University Nijmegen

PhD Candidate

Iris Žeželj

University of Belgrade

Associate Professor

Islam Borinca

University of Groningen

Assistant Professor

Jasper Van Assche

Université Libre de Bruxelles

Professor in Social Psychology

Jie Huang

Durham University

PhD Student

John Dixon

The Open University

Professor of Psychology

Julia Köbrich

GIGA Hamburg

Research Fellow

Juliane Degner

University of Hamburg

Professor

Katrín Árnadóttir

Universität Konstanz

Post-Doc

Keon West

Goldsmiths, University of London

Professor of Social Psychology

Laura Joyner

Middlesex University

Research Fellow

Liang Wu

Durham University

PhD Student

Linda Tropp

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Professor of Social Psychology

Lindsey Cameron

University of Kent

Reader in Psychology

Liora Morhayim

University of Massachusetts

PhD Student

Maarten van Zalk

University of Osnabrück

Professor of Developmental Psychology

Maor Shani

University of Osnabrück

Post Doc

Maria-Therese Friehs

University of Hagen

Research Associate

Marleen Stelter

FernUniversität in Hagen

Researcher & Lecturer

Mathias Kauff

Medical School Hamburg

Professor of Social Psychology

Matilde Tassinari

University of Helsinki

Doctoral Researcher

Melis Ulug

University of Sussex

Senior Lecturer

Merve Ozturk

Durham University

PhD Student

Monica Barnard

University of Sussex

PhD Candidate

Nevin Solak

Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi

Associate Professor

Nicola Abbott

UCL Institute of Education

Associate Professor in Social Psychology

Nicole Tausch

University of St Andrews

Reader

Nikhil Sengupta

University of Kent

Senior Lecturer

Nina Briggs

Queen’s University Belfast

Research Fellow

Oliver Christ

FernUniversität in Hagen

Professor

Olivia Spiegler

Nuffield College, University of Oxford

Private University Goettingen

Research Fellow & Professor of Social Psychology

Orkun Yetkili

University of Westminster

Senior Lecturer in Psychology

Patrick Kotzur

Durham University

Assistant Professor in Psychology

Rhiannon Turner

Queen’s University Belfast

Professor of Social Psychology

Rita Guerra

ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon

Research Fellow

Roberto González

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Professor

Rose Meleady

University of East Anglia

Associate Professor of Psychology

Ruth Ditlmann

Hertie School

Professor of Social Psychology and Public Policy

Sarina Schäfer

University of Hagen

Lecturer

Sebastian Lutterbach

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

PhD Candidate

Shelley McKeown Jones

University of Oxford

Professor of Social Psychology

Sofia Stathi

University of Greenwich

Professor of Social Psychology

Stefania Paolini

Durham University

Professor of Psychology, Durham University

Stephen Wright

Simon Fraser University

Sylvie Graf

Czech Academy of Sciences

Professor

Tabea Hässler

University of Zürich

Senior Research Associate

Tania Garau

University of Ferrara

Post Doc

Tibor Zingora

University of Groningen

Post Doc

Ulrich Klocke

Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

Senior Researcher

Ulrich Wagner

University of Marburg

Professor of Social Psychology

Contact

Subscribe to our newsletter or send us a message below.