Cross-national PYD research and intervention evidence for mental health promotion in diverse adolescents and youth from secondary and higher education

Diego Gomez-Baya, PhD, University of Huelva, Spain

Dr Diego Gomez-Baya is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social, Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Huelva, where he also serves as the Director of the Interuniversity Masters Degree in Educational Psychology and Secretary of the SDEP Department.

Dr Gomez-Baya's research interests are in the promotion of psychological wellbeing and healthy lifestyles in adolescence and youth, and the study of gender differences in risk and protective factors during the transition to adulthood. Furthermore, he serves as the President of the Advisory Council for Childhood and Adolescence of the Government of Andalusia. He also serves as an Editorial Board Member for BMC Psychology.

Marina Hirnstein, PhD, University of Bergen, Norway

Dr Marina Hirnstein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychosocial Science at the University of Bergen, where she is responsible for the module Motivation Psychology, and teaches educational, developmental, and cognitive psychology. She is leading the Faculty’s Committee for Academic Integrity and the Learning Design Group.

Over the last two decades, Dr Hirnstein has been working on international interdisciplinary research projects in education in Norway, the USA, Great Britain, and Croatia. Her research spans from school, educational, developmental to cognitive psychology, particularly positive youth development, mental health, cognitive training, motivational processes involved in learning and performance, educational interventions, technology enhanced learning, and mathematical problem solving.

Ana Kozina, PhD, Educational Research Institute, Slovenia

Dr Ana Kozina is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the Educational Research Institute in Slovenia, where she also serves as a Senior Research Associate, heading the Centre for Evaluation Studies. In her leadership, she stresses the importance of every individual research field and individual competencies and integrating them in the common vision of educational research.

Dr Kozina is also guest lecturer at University of Maribor, an Editorial Board Member for the Center for Educational Policy Studies journal, Slovene representative in European Educational Research Association, and Slovene representative at the International Association of Educators.

Her research is focused on the field of developmental and educational psychology and put into a broader context of educational research. 

Nora Wiium, PhD, University of Bergen, Norway

Dr Nora Wiium is a Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Bergen. Her role primarily entails teaching and research on different topics in health and developmental psychology.

As the principal investigator for The Cross-National Project on Positive Youth Development, Dr Wiium has led and organized collaborations with research partners from over 40 countries around the globe. She has co-edited special issues on topics related to positive youth development and psychological wellbeing in several scientific journals. She is a co-editor of a Handbook on Positive Youth Development, published in 2021 by Springer.