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short bios of 2010 microgenetics workshop speakers

 

Jan Boom is senior researcher at the developmental psychology section at Utrecht University (the Netherlands). His interest is in conceptualizing and (statistical) modelling cognitive and moral development:
 
Boom, J. (2009a). Measuring moral development: Stages as markers along a latent developmental dimension. In W. Koops & A. Sanders (Eds.), The Development and Structure of Conscience: Psychology Press.
Boom, J. (2009b). Piaget on Equilibration. In U. Muller, J. Carpendale & L. Smith (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Piaget. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  

Brian Francis is Professor of Social Statistics at Lancaster University and director of an ESRC National Centre for Research Methods node. He has more than 30 years of experience of statistical consultancy and applied statistical research and has focused recently on the analysis of criminal careers and risk factors for serious crime. His publications span statistics, health, sociology, psychology and criminology, developing analytic approaches. His research interests include quantitative methods in criminology, latent class methods, and analysis of ranked data.

 

Manuela Lavelli has been recently called as Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Verona, Italy, where she teaches undergraduate (‘Dev. Psychology’) and graduate (‘Observational Methods to Study Infant Behavior’) courses. Her research interests include early development of intersubjectivity, development of social and communicative competence, quantitative and qualitative methods to study developmental change processes and related individual differences. On these research topics she has published a monograph and several articles on peer-review journals, and book chapters. Member of an International Research Group coordinated by Alan Fogel (University of Utah) and focused on studying change processes in interpersonal relationships, at present she is scientific coordinator of the Verona Research Unit in both a national project on ‘Analysing parent-child with SLI interaction to promote effective conversational strategies’ co-funded by the Italian Minister of University and Research, and an international project on ‘Universal and cultural aspects of the 2-month transition’ shared with Heidi Keller (University of Osnabrueck, Germany).

 

Matija Svetina graduated with B.A. from University of Ljubljana with the Presern Award in psychology, and then obtained his M.A. in 1996 and Ph.D. in 2000, also from the University of Ljubljana. Upon graduation, he accepted teaching position at University of Ljubljana, which he still holds today. In 2000, he was a post-doctoral fellow with Prof. Robert S Siegler at Carnegie Mellon University, PA. From 1993, he was also a research fellow at the University of Leipzig, Germany, Augsburg College, MN, Pittsburgh University, PA, and guest professor at University of Klagenfurt, Austria.

  

Sanne van der Ven obtained her Master's degree in Cognitive Neuroscience in 2006. Since 2007 she has been working as a PhD student at Utrecht University (the Netherlands). Her dissertation concerns the development of executive functions and mathematical skills in primary school children.

 

Paul van Geert (1950) holds a doctoral degree from the University of Ghent (Belgium) and is a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands since 1985. He has had a pioneering role in the application of dynamic systems theory to a broad range of developmental areas, including early language development and second language acquisition; cognitive development in the context of learning-teaching processes; and social development including social interaction and identity. His main aim is to better understand the general nature of developmental dynamics, i.e. nature of the mechanism(s) that drive and shape a developmental process in an individual, as the individual, given his or her biological properties and potentialities interacts with his or her actively explored environment.
 
As an artist, Paul van Geert has had a life-long interest in the representation of people and close personal relationships. His current work consists of life-size representations of people, in the form of free-standing and moveable constructions.