Meet the Organizers
Event
SRCD 2027 Biennial Meeting
About the Co-Organizers
Jennifer E. Lansford, Ph.D. | SRCD President
Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University
Jennifer E. Lansford is the S. Malcolm Gillis Distinguished Research Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University. She is a developmental psychologist whose international research has demonstrated how culture and family-level factors interact to influence human development. Her research informs scientific understanding of the etiology of health-compromising and risky behaviors from childhood to adulthood and is used to promote child wellbeing worldwide.
Dr. Lansford leads the Parenting Across Cultures Project, a longitudinal study of children, mothers, and fathers from nine countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States). She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development.
Linda C. Halgunseth, Ph.D. | Program Co-Chair
Michigan State University (Associate Professor)
Linda C. Halgunseth, Ph.D. is an associate professor at Michigan State University in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies and a core faculty member of the Chicano/Latino Studies program. Her research focuses on culturally sensitive measurement of Latinx parenting, inclusive practices in family engagement, and cultural influences on parenting, parent-child interactions, and child development. Dr. Halgunseth is an associate editor of the Journal of Research on Adolescence (JRA), and co-editor of JRA’s special issue on Culturally Grounded Measures, Methods, and Approaches to Assessing Latinx Parenting of Adolescents. She is a former Chair of SRCD’s Latinx Caucus.
Dr. Halgunseth received the Early Career Award in Teaching Excellence from AAUP and the Mid-Career and Early Career Awards in Research from the SRCD Latinx Caucus. Her past SRCD service also includes co-chairing SRCD’s Nomination’s Committee and serving as a member on the Ethnic and Racial Issues Committee. She earned a BA in psychology and Spanish at the University of Texas at Austin, and a MS and PhD in human development and family studies from the University of Missouri.
Gianluca Esposito, Ph.D. | Program Co-Chair
University of Trento, Italy (Professor)
Prof. Gianluca Esposito is Director of the Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science at the University of Trento (Italy), where he also leads the Affiliative Behaviour and Physiology Lab and is Co-PI at the Addiction Science Lab. A Developmental Clinical Psychologist, his research examines child socio-cognitive development through neuroimaging (fMRI, fNIRS, EEG), comparative physiology, and behavioral analysis. His work explores typical and atypical developmental trajectories, caregiver-infant interactions across species (humans, mice, marmosets), and their links to psychopathology, as well as behavioral and pharmacological addictions. Funded internationally (Europe, Asia, U.S.), his interdisciplinary approach bridges psychology, neuroscience, and biology.
AFFILIATIVE BEHAVIOUR & PHYSIOLOGY LAB ADDICTION SCIENCE LAB