Dr. Ann Farrell
Dr. Ann Farrell is an Assistant Professor in Child and Youth Studies at Brock University. Her research centers on a multidisciplinary understanding of bullying as a complex social problem, including the processes among individual, social, environmental, and cultural factors associated with youth bullying. By understanding these processes, she hopes to mitigate these contributing factors and help to inform more effective bullying and violence prevention.
Previously, Dr. Farrell was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow and a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Ottawa in Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education. Dr. Farrell holds a Ph.D. in Psychology (Lifespan Development) and M.A. in Child and Youth Studies from Brock University.
Dr. Farrell recently received the PREVNet Early Career Fellowship 2024 and the Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention 2021 Early Career Award. She is currently a council member for the International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA) and an Associate Editor for the journal Aggressive Behavior.
Sierra Barnes
Honours Thesis Student
Sierra is currently a fourth-year honours thesis student in the Concurrent-Education program in the Primary/Junior stream with a major in Child and Youth Studies. She has established a strong interest in using statistical analyses to explore interactions between environmental factors and specific individual differences. Her research interests particularly follow concepts surrounding the influence of societal and environmental factors, as well as aggression and bullying in adolescents, specifically in online settings.
Daniella Silenzi
Honours Thesis Student
Daniella is a current fourth-year student in the Concurrent Education Primary/Junior program, specifically majoring in Child and Youth Studies. Additionally, she is completing her honours thesis, investigating the impact of social comparison on female identifying adolescents’ mental health within the context of particular social media platforms. She has developed an interest in utilizing statistical methods to address topics centred on social comparison, maladaptive adolescent mental health and well-being, and the effects of frequent social media usage.
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Kayla Hoyos-Lewis
Research Assistant
Kayla Hoyos Lewis is an undergraduate student in the Psychology Department. Some of her favourite topics of research include child development, personality, memory, and psychopathology.
Joseph Cino
Research Assistant
Joseph Cino is an undergraduate student in the department of psychology and the department of mathematics. He is interested in applying a variety of statistical methods to psychological research. Some of his main research interests are organizational behavior, educational leadership, adolescent education, and adolescent development.
Michelle Juffe
Research Assistant
Michelle Juffe is an undergraduate honours student in the Psychology Department. In addition to studying psychology, she is also achieving a minor in sociology. Michelle has an interest in psychological research topics around disability and interpersonal relationships, self-control, and cognition.
Grace Markovic
Research Assistant
Grace is an undergraduate student in the department of psychology. She has a great interest in personality, psychopathology, and behaviour related studies. She is also specifically interested in researching the impact of social, environmental, and biological factors on comorbidity of mental health conditions in neurodivergent youth.
Helen Daved
Research Assistant
Helen Daved is an undergraduate student in the department of psychology. She exhibits a strong passion for researching the social and environmental factors influencing behavior, interplay between memory, and psychopathology.
Olivia Mueller
Research Assistant
Olivia is an undergraduate psychology student. She is particularly interested in the research topics of psychopathology, childhood bullying, child and adolescent development, and how mental health conditions can impact interpersonal relationships.
Katerina Partheniou
Research Assistant
Katerina is a recent graduate from Ontario Tech University, where she earned a degree in Forensic Psychology. During her undergraduate studies, she completed a significant project on the associations of maternal depression and anger and their trajectories on youth mental health and development throughout life stages. Currently, she is involved in two research labs: one at Brock University with Dr. Farrell, focusing on understanding bullying as a complex social problem, including the interplay of individual, social, environmental, and cultural factors associated with youth bullying. Katerina will be traveling to Scotland in May to work at Queen Margaret University, where her research in experimental psychology will explore cognitive adaptations and their roles in memory, attention, and social and cultural phenomena. She has a keen interest in child developmental psychology, with a focus on child trauma, dissociation, and psychopathology. Katerina is passionate about investigating how these factors influence youth behavior and mental health, contributing to a deeper understanding of their implications in both educational and social contexts.
Lab Alumni
Mollie Eriksson
Mollie Eriksson graduated Summa Cum Laude from DePaul University (Chicago, IL) with a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience with minors in Chemistry and Biology in June 2022. She played NCAA Division 1 soccer for DePaul University and was the named captain for her final two seasons. Her primary research interests are centered around the neurobiology of interpersonal relationships and the development of personality in relation to trauma.
Lauren Pang
Lauren is a fourth year undergraduate student in the Concurrent Education Primary/Junior program, with a major in Child and Youth Studies. She has developed a strong interest in statistical methods and data analysis to better understand the interactions amongst various complex factors that impact the lives of young people. Some of her other research interests include child and youth development and well-being.
Daley Burnaccioni
Daley is a fourth year undergraduate student in the department of Child and Youth Studies. She is interested in statistical methods and data analysis to investigate correlations involving child and youth mental health. Her primary research interests include psychopathology, psychological trauma, child development, and peer cultures.
Emily Massicotte-Finch
Emily is a fourth year psychology student in the research stream at Brock University. In addition to studying psychology, she is also achieving a minor in child and youth studies. Emily’s research interests center on the intersectionality of various forms of oppression and how they impact vulnerable populations, specifically children and youth. She aims to better understand the experiences and challenges faced by children and youth in order to develop strategies that can promote social justice and equity.
Emily is also an Anishinaabe woman from Batchewana First Nations who is very interested in performing research that would promote the well-being and traditional ways of her community. Currently, she is performing her honours undergraduate thesis which is examining if prejudiced attitudes towards Indigenous peoples in Canada have decreased since 2014. Ultimately, her goal is to use her research to contribute to a more inclusive and equitable society for all, and to support her community in the process.