I am a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at Queen’s University Belfast. 

I lecture on the MSc in Applied Developmental Psychology and I coordinate the Dissertations Module on the same course. I supervise MSc, PhD, and PDRAs research. Furthermore, I have served as Staff Representative in the Management Board, Advisor of International Studies, Senior Tutor, a member of the School's Research Committee, Postgraduate Committee and Internalisation Committee, Green Champion and as Programme Director of the MSc in Applied Developmental Psychology. Currently, I am  the Reputation and Rankings Champion in the School of Psychology.   

I am the Director of the InteRRaCt Lab and a member of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, a member of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology and Associate Editor for Special Issue in the jounral Personality and Individual Differences. 

In January 2022, I was invited to become a Member and an Advocate of the European Association for Personality Psychology (EAPP) for the UK and Ireland.

In 2011, I was awarded a European Marie Curie Fellowship to pursue a PhD (2011-2015) at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck University of London. My doctoral thesis “Individual Differences in Infant Visual Attention: Links to Child Temperament, Behaviour and Genetic Variation” explored the genetics of visual attention in the first year of life; and the degree to which individual differences in newborns’ and infants’ visual attention predict variation in temperament, cognition and symptoms of psychopathology in childhood. I conducted my MSc thesis in the InLab, under the supervision of Professor Kovas, exploring social (e.g. stereotype threat) and biological (e.g. prenatal testosterone) factors that contribute to sex differences in spatial and mathematical ability across development. In 2011, I received an MSc degree in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience from Goldsmiths University of London, and a BSc degree in Psychology from Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in 2009.   

Through the last decade there has been an exponential increase in the number of publications on the “Dark Triad.” These are the three traits of narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. Individuals high on the spectrum of dark traits engage in risky behavior, hold a grandiose view of themselves, are overconfident, show little empathy for others, and have little shame or guilt. The literature so far indicates that this constellation of traits may have unfavorable consequences for other people, organizations, and societies.

My research stands in stark contrast to the popular work on positive personality traits and, is fueled by the desire to explain the following contradiction: If dark personality traits are indeed so socially toxic, why do they persist and are even on the rise, in modern societies.

My objective in this line of work, that is still in its infancy, is not to rehabilitate dark personalities, but rather to contextualize them in a complex web of societal costs and benefits. In that regard, my work has focused on narcissism, as a first step, in order to highlight some positive sides of this seemingly dark trait, such as showing resilience and increasing school performance. 

One of the most novel contribution of my work is to show evidence to propose that narcissism may act as a brinde between the prosocial and socially aversive side of human personality. In a nutshell, the role of narcissism in the network of human personality is to determine how personality traits connect.

My research work promotes diversity and inclusiveness of people and ideas by advocating that dark traits, such as narcissism, should not be seen as "either good or bad," but as products of evolution and expressions of human nature that may be beneficial or harmful depending on the context. This move forward may help to reduce the marginalization of individuals that score high on dark traits, thus offering research-informed suggestions on how best to cultivate some manifestations of these traits, while discouraging others, for the collective good.

I participate actively in dissemination of scientific findings in both academic audiences and the public with my research on narcissism to frequently attract media attention from the world's largest international broadcasters (e.g. BBC World Service) resulting so far in more than 1,000 pieces of coverage worldwide.

I have worked in the academic as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer since 2014 and I have had the opportunity to teach undergraduate, MSc, and doctoral students, a variety of subjects ranging from applied social and developmental psychology to biological and evolutionary psychology to interdisciplinary study of personality development.