Prof. Dermot Barnes-Holmes
Prof. Dermot Barnes-Holmes received his D.Phil. in behaviour analysis and behavioural biology from the University of Ulster, Coleraine, N. Ireland. He returned to Ulster University in 2020 to take up a professorial position in the School of Psychology. Previously, he served as Senior Full Professor and Odysseus Laureate at Ghent University, Belgium, having previously served on the faculties of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and University College Cork. Dr. Barnes-Holmes is an extraordinarily prolific researcher who has made extensive contributions to the behaviour analytic literature, especially in the areas of language and cognition. The competitive and prestigious Odysseus Laureate awarded to Dr. Barnes-Holmes in 2015 is just the most recent recognition of the esteem in which his work is held among behavioural scientists internationally. Email: d.barnes-holmes@ulster.ac.uk
Dr. Colin Harte
Colin received his PhD in 2020 under the supervision of Professors Dermot and Yvonne Barnes-Holmes at Ghent University, after which he took a position as an associate faculty lecturer in psychology at the National College of Ireland (NCI) in Dublin. Colin’s doctoral work was part of the Odysseus research project which focused on the conceptual and empirical development of relational frame theory (RFT) as a behaviour-analytic account of human language and cognition. His work during this time, and indeed primary research interests currently, focused on exploring the behavioural dynamics involved in rule-governed behaviour, and persistent rule-following specifically. Colin continues to contribute to the empirical and conceptual literature on rule-following and indeed symbolic language and cognition generally. He is currently a post-doctoral research fellow at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), and acts as joint editor with Dermot Barnes-Holmes of the ABAI Symbolic Language and Though blog series which currently seeks to foster cooperation and collaboration among researchers of different backgrounds interested in the domain of symbolic language and thought. Email: colin.n.harte@gmail.com
Prof. William F. Perez
Prof. William F. Perez has studied language and cognition as a research topic since the very beginning of the Psychology course (2002-2006) at the Federal University of São Carlos (Brazil). He subsequently received both his MSc. (2008) and his Ph.D. (2012) in Experimental Psychology at the University of São Paulo (Brazil). During his Ph.D., he was a Fulbright recipient (2011) at the University of North Texas (USA). Currently, he is a professor, researcher, and therapist at Paradigma – Centro de Ciências e Tecnologia do Comportamento (São Paulo, Brazil). Dr. Perez’s research work has largely focused on Relational Frame Theory (RFT), exploring a wide variety of topics such as the contextual control of symbolic functions, derived acquisition of emotional functions, metaphors, rule-governed behavior, and experimental analogues of clinical phenomena. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Brazilian journal Perspectivas em Análise do Comportamento (2012-2020) and Editor of the recent special issue on RFT (2021). He is also a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Recently, he organized and authored the book “Relational Frame Theory: concepts, research, and applications” (published in Portuguese). Email: will.f.perez@gmail.com
Dr. Carolina C. Silveira
Carolina received her Master’s degree and PhD in psychology (Behaviour and Cognition) from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar, Brazil), the latter portion of which involved a funded research stay at Ghent University (UGent, Belgium) with professors Dermot and Yvonne Barnes-Holmes. During this time Carolina’s research focused on applying advances in relational frame theory (RFT) to applied behaviour analyses of language and cognition. She also specialized in Clinical Behaviour Analysis at Paradigma Behavioural Sciences Centre in São Paulo and currently holds a position as a clinical supervisor at ABAKIDS in Londrina, Brazil, working with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental delays.
Prof. Julio C. de Rose
Julio C. de Rose is a professor of psychology at the Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil. He received his Ph.D. in experimental psychology at the University of São Paulo in 1981, and was a Fulbright scholar at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center for Mental Retardation, in Massachusetts, EUA, where he stayed from 1984 to 1986. Back in Brazil, he was one of the founders of the research network on Behavior, Cognition, and Teaching, which later became the National Institute for Science and Technology for Behavior, Cognition, and Teaching. Dr. de Rose is currently the research director of this Institute.
Dr. Carol Murphy
Dr. Carol Murphy obtained her Ph.D. in the area of behaviour analysis and derived relational responding, as encountered by Relational Frame Theory (RFT), from Maynooth University. She was subsequently Lecturer and Course Director on the Doctorate in Psychological Science (Behaviour Analysis Therapy) degree at the Department of Psychology (Maynooth University) from 2008 to 2017. During this time Dr. Murphy was also module lead lecturing on the undergraduate programme in developmental psychology, as well as lecturing on the UG ethics module. Dr. Murphy’s applied experience primarily involved working with children with spectrum disorder (ASD) during which she designed and supervised behavioural interventions to improve the children’s social and academic skills. Her research interests are in the areas of applied behaviour analysis (ABA), derived relational responding, RFT, Implicit Cognition (IRAP), and developing/testing interactive computerised teaching programmes (T-IRAP/GO-IRAP). To this end, Carol has published approximately 50 research articles in peer reviewed scientific journals and a number of book chapters in edited volumes (click here for a list of selected publications).
Dr. Michelle Kelly
Dr. Michelle Kelly graduated from Maynooth University in 2011 with a doctorate in Applied Behaviour Analysis and Therapy and is a doctoral level Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA-D). Her dissertation investigated relational response biases of teachers in mainstream and Applied Behaviour Analysis schools. She completed her post-doc (2011-2014) in the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience in collaboration with the Alzheimer Society of Ireland, where she was responsible for the research and development of evidence-based interventions for older adults and those with early-stage dementia. Currently, Dr Kelly is a lecturer in Psychology at the National College of Ireland (NCI) in Dublin, and supervises research students in NCI, Trinity College and Maynooth University. She is the Chair of the Psychological Society of Ireland’s Division of Behaviour Analysis (DBA) and is the coordinator of the Alzheimer Cafe Glasnevin. Her primary research interests include: applied behaviour analysis (ABA) and therapy; behavioural gerontology; relational frame theory and derived relational responding; healthy ageing; evidence-based early interventions for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia.