This webinar will focus on empowering scholars from the Majority World to navigate the challenges of publishing research on adolescence. Attendees will explore strategies for overcoming biases in academic publishing, such as the dominance of Western perspectives, and learn how to elevate region-specific issues that impact adolescents in their communities. The webinar will cover practical tools for publishing in the Journal of Research on Adolescence, building networks, and addressing cultural and systemic barriers to disseminating Majority World scholarship on adolescence. We will also learn from two scholars from the Majority World who recently contributed to a Special Issue in JRA on “Towards a Decolonial Developmental Science: Exploring Adolescent Development in Communities from the Majority World.” By the end of this webinar, attendees will be equipped with the skills and knowledge to contribute meaningfully to the global discourse on adolescent development, fostering a more inclusive and diverse academic landscape.

Speakers:

Philip Baiden, Ph.D.
Dr. Philip Baiden is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Baiden’s research focuses on prevention of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, adolescent health risk behaviors, social determinants of health, mental health among adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa, and international social work research. Dr. Baiden has strong skills in working with large secondary datasets, designing and conducting rigorous intervention research, and evaluating the impact of social intervention programs that seeks to enhance the well-being of children and adolescents in low-resource contexts. This is best demonstrated by his research awards and publication record.

Su Yeong Kim, Ph.D.
Su Yeong Kim is Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the Incoming Editor of Journal of Research on Adolescence and former Editor of Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. She is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, and the Asian American Psychological Association. Dr. Kim’s research examines the intersection of family and cultural contexts in the development of children of immigrants in the United States, with a focus on adolescents of Chinese and Mexican origin. This work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, Russell Sage Foundation, and Spencer Foundation. She has also authored more than 150 journal publications.

Sheriffa Mahama, Ph.D.
Sheriffa Mahama (PhD) is a senior lecturer and researcher with the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon. She is a registered clinical and developmental psychologist with extensive experience in clinical work, teaching and research. She had her undergraduate and master’s education with the University of Ghana, Legon and her doctoral education with the Friedrich- Schiller-University, Jena, Germany. With a background in Psychology, she teaches courses in lifespan development. Her research interests include puberty and psychosocial adaptation in adolescence and the mechanisms surrounding the education to work transitions of young adults.

Niyati Pandya, Ph.D.
Niyati Pandya, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (India), where she has been a faculty member since 2016. Her research examines the role of culture and development in moral reasoning across the life span. Theoretically and methodologically grounded in developmental psychology and cultural psychology, Dr. Pandya conducts  mixed methods research with children, adolescents, and established adults of Vadodara, India. Her research interests include social class, gender, and religious influences on the development of moral reasoning. More recently, her work takes an indigenous approach to study Indian moral worldviews and concepts.

Moderators:

Graciela Espinosa- Hernández, Ph.D.
Chair & Professor
Psychology Department, UNC – Wilmington

Dr. Graciela Espinosa-Hernandez is a Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her research focuses on understanding sociocultural (e.g., cultural values, religion) and family factors (e.g., parenting) associated with sexuality, alcohol use, and well-being in Latine adolescents and emerging adults in the U.S. and Mexico. She has promoted using a normative framework when examining Mexican adolescent sexuality, moving away from conceptualizing adolescent behavior only as risky. Her studies on cultural values and parenting highlight the importance of selecting culturally relevant variables that help understand factors that may shape behavior in Latine adolescent populations. She is currently co-chair of SRA’s international committee.

Vaishali V. Raval, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology, Miami University

Dr. Vaishali Raval is professor of psychology and affiliate of global and intercultural studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Through her research, teaching, and service, she is committed to addressing the underrepresentation of global communities in developmental science. Her primary program of research focuses on cultural and contextual foundations of parenting, emotion processes, and how they relate to child and adolescent mental health outcomes among diverse communities globally. A secondary focus is on youth experiences of marginalization and mental health. She has worked to promote global developmental science through roles as the co-chair of SRCD’s international affairs committee, past chair of SRA’s international committee, and chair the US National Committee for Psychological Science (USNC/IUPsyS), as well as through associate editor roles for Journal of Research on Adolescence and Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.