IWD2025: An Interview with Dr. Tayler Truhan

We had the pleasure of including our Communications Assistants, two women who research individual differences, in our 2025 round of International Women's Day interviews! First up we have our CA Dr. Tayler Truhan, a Lecturer in Psychology at Queen's University Belfast.

You can see her university webpage here: https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/tayler-truhan-2

She is Deputy Director of the InteRRaCt Research Centre: https://www.interractlab.co.uk/

What advice would you give to someone just starting out in your field, especially young women aspiring to enter the research community?

I am still early on in my academic and research journey (just started my first Lecturer post August 2024), but my advice would be to try something new! Even if it seems outside of your comfort zone or totally different to your work so far. New experiences are the fertilizer for research ideas and scientific discovery. I had the opportunity to take a postdoctoral position in Nursing, and I am so glad I did. The post taught me new qualitative research skills, different ways to conduct patient and public involvement, and how to interact with a variety of stakeholders outside of academia. I have now brought these skills and collaborations back to my work in psychology and am better able to develop and understand the impact of my work.

What role does collaboration play in your work, and can you share an example of a successful collaboration experience?

I think collaboration plays a big role in successful research. Not just with other academic disciplines but with stakeholders and the public as well. I have found the most impactful discussions for my research have often come from those with lived experience (particularly in my work in youth mental health). I have also engaged with the public on many occasions to discuss 'dark' personality traits - people often have some very interesting insights!

Are there any researchers who are women who have influenced your work? What was it about their work that influenced you?

Yes, definitely! I have never met her (although I did send her an e-mail once which she was very kind in responding to), but she does some great work in the area of maternal personality, parenting, and child temperament. Her name is Grazyna Kochanska and she is a Professor at the University of Iowa. Several of her very interesting studies formed the basis for some of the decisions I made in my doctoral work, including the following publications:

Kochanska, G., Kim, S., & Koenig Nordling, J. (2012). Challenging circumstances moderate the links between mothers' personality traits and their parenting in low-income families with young children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(6), 1040–1049. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030386

Kochanska, G., Kim, S., & Boldt, L. J. (2013). Origins of children’s externalizing behavior problems in low-income families: Toddlers’ willing stance toward their mothers as the missing link. Development and Psychopathology, 25(4pt1), 891–901. doi:10.1017/S0954579413000254

What aspects of your research are you most passionate about?

Definitely getting to work with children and young people and feel like my research can make a real difference in their lives and their families. :) Also I am a science nerd so I love being able to do research and play with data!

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