Featuring Leaders in the Research on Aggression and Violence

The International Society for Research on Aggression hosts an online speaker series each academic year that features five scholars in the field of aggression and violence. One of the five scholars is from the New Investigators Program. Pre-registration is required and is completely free. Each event begins at 13:00 (1 PM) Eastern Time.

Past Presentations

March 9, 2022

Dr. Rebecca Bondü
Psychologsche Hochschule Berlin
Leaking as a Starting Point of the Prevention of School Shootings and Terrorism

Rebecca Bondü earned her Ph.D. in Psychology. Currently she is working as Professor for Development, Education, and Family Psychology at the Psychologische Hochschule Berlin. Her research focuses on risk and protective factors for prosocial and aggressive behavior and comprises topics such as warning signs for severe violence, aggressive (sexual) fantasies, as well as sensitivity to injustice and rejection.

February 9, 2022

Dr. Dominic Parrott
Georgia State University
Determinants of Violence Toward Sexual and Gender Minorities: A Critical Review and Call to Action

Dominic Parrott, Ph.D. is a Professor of Psychology (Clinical), Director of the Center for Research on Interpersonal Violence at Georgia State University, and Executive Secretary for the International Society for Research on Aggression. His research program aims to reduce interpersonal violence by (1) identifying risk and protective factors for perpetrating aggressive behavior and (2) informing intervention programming. This work uses different methodologies (e.g., laboratory, survey) to study different forms of aggression (e.g., physical, sexual) toward various targets (e.g., sexual minorities, women) — with a particular focus on the effects of alcohol. He is a nationally recognized expert on the intersection between alcohol and violence, the use of laboratory-based methods to study aggressive behavior, and the application of this work to sexual and gender minority populations. Dr. Parrott’s research has resulted in over 100 scientific articles and been funded continuously by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism since 2006.

January 12, 2022

Dr. Dayu Lin
New York University
Neural Mechanisms of Aggression

My lab focuses on understanding the neural circuits underlying social behaviors in mice. Specifically, we use optogenetic and phamacogenetic manipulations, electrophysiological and optical recording, tracing and molecular tools to investigate the neural substrates involved in the expression and modulation of aggressive, maternal, defensive and reproductive behaviors. In previous studies, we identified ventromedial hypothalamus, ventrolateral part (VMHvl) as an essential relay in male and female mouse aggression. Expanded from this finding, we now focus on understanding the additional components in the aggression circuit and its modulation with experience and context. Our long term research goal is to understand how social behaviors are generated and controlled, and the malfunction of these mechanisms under psychiatric conditions.

December 8, 2021

Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt
University of Ottawa
The Long-Term Outcomes of Childhood Bullying

Tracy Vaillancourt is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in School-Based Mental Health and Violence Prevention at the University of Ottawa where she is cross-appointed as a full professor in Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education and the School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences. Dr. Vaillancourt is also a core member of the Brain and Mind Institute, Faculty of Medicine and the Centre for Health Law, Policy, and Ethics, Faculty of Law, uOttawa, the president-elect of the International Society for Research on Aggression, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She is the recipient of the University of Ottawa Award for Excellence in Research, the University of Ottawa Award for Excellence in Media Relations, the YMCA Peace Medal, the McMaster Student Union Teaching Award for Science, and the McMaster University Student Union Teaching Merit Award for Science. Dr. Vaillancourt has published over 190 peer reviewed studies primarily on the links between bullying and mental health, with a particular focus on social neuroscience.