Global Collaboration Opportunity: Cross-National Study on Intergroup Contact and Segregation - Call for Collaborators

Jie Huang
Aug 18, 2026 2 min read events

Intergroup contact can reduce prejudice, but majority and minority groups may engage in - or avoid - contact for different reasons. This PhD project investigates the psychological and contextual factors that shape intergroup contact across diverse sociopolitical contexts worldwide. We are seeking researchers, NGOs, practitioners, and Master’s-level or higher graduate students to collaborate on a large-scale, cross-national survey study, with data collection expected in 2027.

What Would Collaboration Involve? Collaborators would contribute to the following (in consultation with the project team):

  • Identifying a relevant local context and participant population
  • Translating and adapting survey materials
  • Obtaining any required local ethics approvals or permissions
  • Collecting data from at least 300 participants from an ethno-linguistic majority or minority group (ideally, we would like collaborators to collect both a majority and a minority group sample) Data collection will use Qualtrics hosted by the University of St Andrews.

What Do Collaborators Gain?

  • Co-authorship on primary publications for collaborators who secure the required sample.
  • The opportunity to include a limited number of context-specific questions addressing local research interests, subject to discussion with the project team.
  • The opportunity to develop and test your own hypotheses using the international dataset, in consultation with the project team and subject to authorship arrangements.
  • Participation in an international research collaboration examining intergroup contact across diverse contexts. This PhD project is coordinated by Somidha Ray (PhD candidate) under the supervision of Dr. Anna Stefaniak and Dr. Nicole Tausch (School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews), and with support from core collaborators Professor Stefania Paolini and Dr Patrick Kotzur (Department of Psychology, Durham University).

Interested in Collaborating?

You can register your interest here: https://standrews.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bIuzhS2A6OFZRs2

For further information, please get in touch with:

Somidha Ray, PhD Candidate, School of Psychology and Neuroscience University of St Andrews 📧 sr332@st-andrews.ac.uk (Subject line: Global Study on Contact)

Submitting an expression of interest is non-binding. A detailed collaboration agreement will be provided before participation is confirmed.