I was born and raised in Romania, where I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Timisoara in 2002. I then moved to the US where I obtained my Master’s in Experimental Psychology in 2005 and my Ph.D. in Social Psychology in 2010. Between 2010 and 2014 I worked at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland, first as a post-doctoral researcher and later as an Ambizione fellow of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Between 2014 and 2016 I was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University Camden in the US. In September 2016 I joined the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast as a Lecturer in Experimental Social Psychology. 

In my research I focus on the interplay between social cognition and nonverbal behaviour. I am particularly interested in analysing the interpersonal mechanism through which targets of bias are negatively influenced by existing implicit and explicit stereotypes in actual social interactions. I tend to investigate these questions in consequential organizational interactions such as job interviews, negotiations, and leadership tasks, with the ultimate goal of understanding and reducing inequalities in organizational contexts and leadership.