School of Psychology Events

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Philip Jean-Richard Dit Bressel (University of NSW)
2026-03-27 15:00 - 16:00 (Australia/Sydney)
Dr Philip Jean-Richard Dit Bressel (University of NSW)

Title: A cross-species paradigm for exploring persistent detrimental behaviour

Abstract:

A basic precept in psychology is that actions with positive consequences are repeated while actions with negative consequences are avoided. However, individuals vary immensely in their tendency to cease detrimental actions, with many persisting in self-destructive behaviour. Tasks used to study this often fail to reveal psychological roots for these inter-individual differences. We have sought to address this via rodent and human versions of a conditioned punishment task. Across studies, we have found that avoidance of negative consequences is bimodally distributed across individuals. We have found these differences in avoidance are not readily attributable to differences in appetitive or aversive motivation, nor differences in behavioural control. Rather, avoidance differences were driven by failures in Action-Punisher learning, indicating an overlooked source of maladaptive choices. Factors that interact with these tendencies, broader implications, and future directions will be discussed.

Bio:

Dr Philip Jean-Richard Dit Bressel is a Senior Lecturer at UNSW School of Psychology. His lab investigates the psychobiology of learning, decision-making, and behaviour, with a special focus on how we learn and make decisions about actions with negative consequences. His research program leverages complex behavioural tasks across species, precision neuroscience techniques (in vivo pharmacology, optical and genetic approaches for real-time neural measurement and manipulation), and advanced analysis methods.

Thriving With and Beyond Cancer: A World Psycho-Oncology Day Webinar
2026-04-09 13:00 - 14:00
Beyond the Clinical: Supporting Mental Health in Cancer CareCancer care is about more than just treatment, scans, and surgery. In honour of World Psycho-Oncology Day, the Psycho-Oncology Cooperative Research Group (PoCoG) invites you to a special webinar: Thriving With and Beyond Cancer.

Join us on Thursday 9 April to discover how psycho-social and supportive care clinical trials and implementation research are transforming the way we support the emotional and psychological needs of patients and their families.

This session is open to all – clinicians, researchers, students, and community members alike.

REGISTER HERE

When: Thursday 9 April, 1pm – 2 pm AEST

Where: Online (link provided upon registration)

Host: PoCoG (School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, University of Sydney)

Psychology Colloquium: Prof Mark Dadds (University of Sydney)
2026-04-17 15:00 - 16:00
Prof Mark Dadds (University of Sydney)

Title: What is it to discipline a child; what should it be? Evidence, myths, and the moral high ground

Abstract:

Parental discipline of children is central to children’s moral development but is also the context for most abuse and violence. Time-out (TO) is a widely used parental discipline strategy developed as an alternative to physical punishment for children with behavioural problems and is now the 2nd most common discipline strategy. Despite strong research support, concerns have spread widely regarding adverse impact on child mental health (CMH) in part driven by evidence of widespread variability in how TO is implemented, and also with regard to its use with child from trauma and adversity backgrounds. I will present the results of several studies using a new measure of procedural implementation of TO by parents of children aged 2-8 years, to examine the relationship between use and implementation of TO and child mental health, attachment, moral development, and other outcomes. Data will include the first surveys of young adults who grew up in the Time-out generation. Overall, the findings suggest that TO is ……. you’ll need to come to hear this bit!

Bio:

Mark Dadds is Director of Growing Minds Australia, Professor of Psychology at the University of Sydney and Founding Co-Director of the Child Behaviour Research Clinic, which develops state-of-the-art treatments for children and adolescents with MH problems. He has received over $17M of NHMRC, MRFF and philanthropic funding since 2020. He has developed and directed several national intervention programs for children, youth, and their families, at risk for MH problems. His Integrated Family Intervention for Child Conduct Disorder (with D.Hawes) is implemented throughout the world in the form of a tertiary treatment and since 2020, online as Parentworks and FamilyMan, both developed in partnership with the Movember Foundation. The ABC 3-part documentary of his approach to treating early onset child mental health problems led to him being awarded the 2021 Inaugural APS Award for Media Engagement with Science. Other awards include Early Career Award from the Division of Scientific Affairs of the Australian Psychological Society, the Ian Matthew Campbell Award for Excellence in Clinical Psychology, Distinguished Career Award of the Australian Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy, the Eric Taylor Award for Translational Research into Practice, Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, UK, 2020, and in 2021, the APS President’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology. He has authored 4 books and over 280 papers on child and family psychology receiving over 39,000 citations in total and over 11,000 since 2020 on Google Scholar, and has given invited keynote addresses and skills training workshops to international audiences throughout the world. In 2021 he established Australia’s first Clinical Trials Network in Child and Youth Mental Health funded by the federal government and tasked with developing innovative methods for identifying and responding to early mental health problems in children. This CTN has since 2021 developed Australia’s first network of Early and Midcareer researchers in child and youth mental health, established over 14 flagship, funded and endorsed new research trials, established core methods support teams in Health Economics, Lived Experience and Co-design, Translation, and Statistical methods, and engaged ~100 research collaborators in child and youth mental health.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Natalie Matosin (University of Sydney)
2026-04-24 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Natalie Matosin (University of Sydney)

Title: Decoding the impacts of stress on the human brain

Abstract:

Severe psychological stress is a global issue. The accumulation of recent geopolitical, environmental, and health crises has highlighted that stress has broad and substantial ramifications for global mental health. In this presentation, Dr. Natalie Matosin will present cutting-edge research on how stress and trauma affect the cytoarchitecture of the human brain, and how through studying this process, the lab is defining new brain cell types that have not been described before.

Bio:

Dr. Natalie Matosin is a Sydney Horizon and Al & Val Rosenstrauss Senior Research Fellow in the School of Medical Sciences, and Director of the MINDS Lab in the Charles Perkins Centre. With over a decade of international training in neurobiology, Natalie specialises in advanced techniques to explore brain complexities and disorders. Her lab’s pioneering research in spatial and single-cell histology aims to improve diagnostics and develop new treatments for mental health conditions, driving solutions from lab research to clinical applications.

Psychology Colloquium: Learning, Education, and Assessment Research Network (Psychology) (USYD)
2026-05-01 15:00 - 16:00
Learning, Education, and Assessment Research Network (Psychology) (USYD)

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Psychology Colloquium: Prof Louise Sharpe (University of Sydney)
2026-05-08 15:00 - 16:00
Prof Louise Sharpe (University of Sydney)

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Psychology Colloquium: Scientia Prof Kaarin Anstey (University of NSW)
2026-05-15 15:00 - 16:00
Scientia Prof Kaarin Anstey (University of NSW)

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Psychology Colloquium: Dr Poppy Watson (UTS)
2026-05-22 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Poppy Watson (UTS)

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Psychology Colloquium: Dr Denise Moerel (Western Sydney University)
2026-05-29 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Denise Moerel (Western Sydney University)

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