The ERU Board is chaired by the President, the President-Elect, the Past-President, the Secretary, the Officer for Internal Relations & Communication, and the Officer for External Relations. In addition to the Board members, ERU consists of approximately 30 national representatives in their respective countries across Europe. There are specific tasks and responsibilities for all ERU Board members, but it is also our vision that ERU members work together as a union in sharing our tasks and exchanging experience.
Read more about the ERU board below.
Lysanne te Brinke is a postdoctoral researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She is interested in how adolescents navigate complex societal challenges (i.e., social inequality crisis, climate crisis, covid-19 crisis). Her work focuses on prosocial behavior, antisocial behavior, and (micro-)interventions. Currently, she is leading an intervention study, in which she aims to examine how changes in emotional reactivity during adolescence result in opportunities for prosocial behavior, such as increases in societal contributions. She is also the co-founder of a youth participation platform (called YoungXperts) and an advocate of citizen science. In her work, she aims to include the voices and creative ideas of adolescents. Moreover, she examines how innovative approaches (i.e., living labs) can foster the implementation of scientific findings.
Stefanos Mastrotheodoros holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology (2015) from the University of Athens, Greece, and a second PhD in Developmental Psychology (2020) from Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Currently, he works as a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University, the Netherlands, studying adolescent development and family relationships during adolescence. He is interested in applying longitudinal analytical models as well as integrating biological approaches to investigate human development. Additionally, he has gained considerable experience in conducting research on native and immigrant adolescent development investigating identity processes in minority youth. Stefanos has also worked with research projects funded by the EU.
Tuğçe Aral is a doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Inclusive Education department at the University of Potsdam, Germany. Her main research interests center around ethnic-racial socialization, migration, ethnic identity development, and intergroup relations. In her dissertation, she focuses on the role of family and school ethnic-racial socialization in youth's identity development and intergroup relation. She is also skilled in conducting intervention studies (e.g., Positive Youth Development and self-affirmation interventions) and quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
Chiara Ceccon is a Research Fellow at the University of Padova, Italy. Her research focuses on the role played by individual, contextual and cultural factors in relation to mental health and social inclusion of youth with a migration background and of underrepresented populations. She is currently involved in the cultural adaptation of a school-based intervention designed to promote adolescents’ ethnic identity formation to the Italian context. She is also interested in investigating the role of environmental sensitivity in shaping adolescents’ responses to psychosocial interventions, and the correlates of psychological adjustment in young adult asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors from a Positive Youth Development perspective.
Sophie Hölscher is a doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Department of Educational Psychology with an Emphasis on Socialization and Culture at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. Her research is centered on exploring cultural, gender, and sexual diversity in school settings. In her dissertation, she delves into the relationships between autonomy, belonging, and cultural identity development within the school context, employing a comprehensive approach that includes both qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as intervention studies.
Maria Chiara Basilici holds a Phd in Psychology in 2023 with the additional title of Doctor Europeaus, from the University of Florence, Italy, where she is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher. Her research focuses on adolescents. In particular, she analyzes ethnic bullying in schools and the interactions between native and students with an immigrant background. Her research interests also include development, evidence-based anti-bullying interventions, the impact of macro-social events on adolescent well-being, and quantitative methods and data analysis.
Rita Pinto is a Ph.D. fellow at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences at the University of Porto, and she is part of the Development and Education Research Group of the Center for Psychology at the University of Porto. Her Ph.D. project focuses on the implementation and sustainability of an evidence-based parenting program in community-based settings with families engaged in the Child Protection System. Her research interests are related to the protection of children and young people in situations of psychosocial risk, mainly through family and community-centered approaches, based on the best research evidence.