Our PhD student Julia Ditzer at the Congress of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) in Washington D.C.

Our PhD student, Julia Ditzer, attended this year's Association for Psychological Science (APS) Congress in Washington D.C. from 25 to 28 May 2023. The APS Congress is the leading global event of psychological science, where researchers from all over the world participate and share the latest discoveries and developments in different fields of psychology. 

The Congress began with an opening ceremony, which also included the presentation of a special Lifetime Achievement Award to Alan G. Kraut, the founding Executive Director of APS. Catherine Alexandra Hartley of New York University then gave a keynote lecture on "Causes and Consequences of Exploration Across Development". 
Many interesting lectures, poster presentations and symposia on various topics in the field of psychology followed. Specific events for students were also offered by the APS Student Caucus, ranging from panels on understanding the scholarship process and setting academic goals to events such as the Student Career Networking Event. Thematically, particularly exciting symposia for our PhD student included "How Does Language Shape Emotion? Insights from Recent Findings", "Sensitive Periods in Development" and "Pathways from Stress to Psychopathology: The Effects of Stressor Type and Timing on Markers of Mental Health across the Lifespan". Julia Ditzer already worked with many of the researchers from the respective symposia during her time at Yale University. 

She also had the opportunity to participate in workshops that offered the opportunity to learn research methods and techniques from established psychological researchers. Julia Ditzer participated in a pre-conference workshop on "Dyadic Data Analysis in Psychological Science".

Julia Ditzer presented her own meta-analysis entitled "Child maltreatment and alexithymia: A meta-analytic review" as part of a poster at the congress. A paper on this study was recently published in Psychological Bulletin and can be found at the following link: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2023-78411-001.pdf. 

It is also worth mentioning that Julia Ditzer received a Travel Award from the Association of Psychological Science for her participation and active contribution to the congress. 
Overall, participation in the APS Congress was extremely worthwhile. In addition to the numerous experiences our doctoral student was able to gain at the congress, she was able to expand her knowledge and even present her own project. In addition, many new contacts were made through the exchange, which can be extremely useful for future research projects. Overall, the APS Congress was a successful research trip for Julia!