PhD students

Meet our Psychology PhD students and explore their research topics.

To find out more about our PhD students, their Psychology research, and how to contact them, visit their individual profile pages via the links below.

Photo of Aaron Hissey

Aaron Hissey

The stability of maladaptive personality traits and their impact on others

Landscape photo of Alana

Alana Haenga-O'Brien

Exploring Rangatahi Māori Understandings of Wairuatanga and Hauora

Photo of PhD student, Annabelle Wride.

Annabelle Wride

Developing a Theory of Intimate Partner Aggression in Aotearoa-New Zealand

Annalisa Hughes Website Tile Photo

Annalisa Hughes

Cultural Context and Crime: How should the sociocultural environment feature in psychological explanation and practice for forensic purposes?

Awatea Moxon

Understanding the Relationship between Whakapapa Knowledge and Psychological Wellbeing

Photo of PhD student Dryden Badenoch.

Dryden Badenoch

Improving Cognitive Assessment Post-Stroke

Elizabeth McLean

The life experience of adolescent Māori females in the New Zealand criminal justice system.

Feryl Badiani

The Puzzle of Hinduism: Understanding the polytheistic existence of Hinduism from a cultural evolutionary lens.

Fin Johnson

Kia mau i te WeHI! The design, development, and validation of the Wellbeing Hononga Index (WeHI) – a new self-report measure of Māori wellbeing

Fiona Grattan

Making sense of sex positivity

PhD Candidate Gerard Janse van Rensburg

Gerard Janse van Rensburg

Understanding the nature of prejudice: A Multi-level Analysis of the Antecedents of Prejudice and Discrimination

Grace Nock

Understand online child sexual exploitation and abuse: Using a mixed methods approach to inform theory and prevention development.

PhD Candidate Joanna Mete posing for a photo in front of green foliage

Joanna Mete

Cognitive control mechanisms in anxiety

PhD candidate Jordan Payne

Jordan Payne

Mechanisms of Psychological Distress in Rural New Zealand.

Photo of PhD student, John Vega Guerra

Juan Pablo (John) Vega

What's his deal? Understanding Social Deviance and Norm Breaking in Intra-group Settings

PhD Candidate Konstantina Vasileva looking into the camera. The image is taken in The Hub on Kelburn Campus.

Konstantina Vasileva

Imagery is more than meets the eye: a new look at mental imagery processing in working memory

white and green sneakers worn by someone sitting with their feet on the lawn, close up of the feet

Kylie Sutcliffe

Scalable approaches to improving access to psychological therapies among high school students in Aotearoa New Zealand

Larissa Rocha

Investigating the acute and long-term effects of psilocybin in serotonin transporter knock-out and wild type female rats. // Effects of Psilocybin in Female Rat

PhD Candidate Laura Kranz posing for a photo in front of green foliage

Laura Kranz

The role of cognition and emotion in science communication

photo of PhD student Laurel Keats

Laurel Keats

Autobiographical memory and young people's depressive symptoms across time

PhD candidate Lee Bravestone

Lee Bravestone

Queering Ambivalent Sexism: Developing a new, more inclusive sexist ideology measurement

PhD Candidate Linda Fatialofa in front of a Samoan cloth.

Linda Fatialofa

A Preliminary Descriptive Model for Youth Offending

PhD Candidate Manjuparnha Raychaudurhi

Manjuparna Raychaudhuri

Trajectory profiles of youth engaging in repeat offending

Mei-Jing Lin

Adults Automatic Imitation and Theory of Mind Processing

MIchaela Dresel Web Tile

Michaela Dresel

Social cognitive development in infants

photo of PhD student, Olivia Nop

Olivia Nop

Sexism and victim blaming in sexual assault in religious communities

Tyler Ritchie

Indigenous perspectives on multiculturalism.