I am a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at Queen’s University, Belfast. I earned a dual Ph.D. in Psychology and Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame. My research applies a risk and resilience framework, within a developmental psychopathology approach, to examine the impact of political violence on children, families, and communities in Colombia, Croatia and Northern Ireland. I am also expanding this international research to work with immigrant and refugee youth in the United States. In addition, I have research and operational knowledge in conflict transformation, mental health, and transitional justice with six years of field experience in rights-based empowerment in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Nepal.

For more information, visit my personal web site:

https://lauraktaylor.wordpress.com/

I teach on our Masters in Political Psychology, quantitative methods at the post-graduate level, and on social, political and developmental issues at the undergraduate level.

I have received the following awards, recognitions and certificates for my teaching:

• 2016 Post-graduate Certificate in Higher Education and Teaching (PGCHET), Queen's University, Belfast
• 2016 Most Inspiring/Motivating Teacher – finalist, Students’ Union, Queen’s University, Belfast
• 2013 Striving for Excellence in Teaching Certificate from the Kaneb Center, University of Notre Dame
• 2012 Advanced Teaching Scholar Certificate from the Kaneb Center, University of Notre Dame
• 2011 Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Assistant, Kaneb Center, University of Notre

In the past, I have taught:

Queen’s University, Belfast

• Political Behavior (Spring 2015)*
• Quantitative Methods (Spring 2015, 2016)*
• Childhood Adversity (Spring 2015, Autumn 2015)
• Youth and Political Violence: Risk and Resilience Processes (Autumn 2015)

University of North Carolina at Greensboro 

• International Human Rights Advocacy (Summer 2014)*
• Research Methods Proseminar (Spring 2014)*
• Research on Immigrant and Refugee Youth (Spring 2014)
• Conflict Transformation: Reconciliation and Healing (Fall 2013)* 
• Restorative Justice: Theory and Practice (Fall 2013)*
• Conflict and Culture (Fall 2013)

University of Notre Dame

• Latino Community Organizing against Violence (Fall 2012)
• Youth and Political Violence (Spring 2012)
• Quantitative Research Methods II (Teaching Assistant, Spring 2011)*
• Quantitative Research Methods I (Teaching Assistant, Fall 2010)*

Haverford College

• Peacebuilding (Teaching Assistant, Spring 2008)
• Reconciliation (Teaching Assistant, Spring 2004)

* Graduate course

I was born and raised in Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We moved to the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts, where I completed high school. I graduated from Haverford College, a small liberal arts school outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a major in psychology and minors in Spanish and Latin American Studies. I worked in human rights and peacebuilding in Guatemala and Nepal, and obtained my Masters in Peace and Justices Studies from the University of San Diego, California. I earned a dual PhD in Psychology and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, and then worked at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro before coming to Queen's University, Belfast, in 2015.