Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Faculty Member, PPGPSI - Instituto de Psicologia

Professor

UFRGS

About

Silvia Helena Koller is Brazilian and works as a Full Professor and Chair of the Center for Psychological Studies of Street Youth in the Department of Psychology at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil <www.psicologia.ufrgs.br/cep_rua&gt;. She was awarded as Honorary Professor at Universidad de Chiclayo and Universidad Autónoma del Peru, Peru, and as the 2010 the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) International Fellow and the 2010 Association of Psychological Societies Fellowship. She was the president of the Brazilian Association for Research and Graduate Studies in Psychology and of the Brazilian Society of Developmental Psychology. Nowadays, she is the Editor-in-chief of the Interamerican Journal of Psychology and of the Brazilian Journal Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica (Psychology). She was Associate Editor of the International Journal of Behavioral Development (International Society for the Studies on Behavioural Development - ISSBD) till 2008, and of the Child Development Abstracts & Bibliography (Society for Research in Child Development - SRCD). Her participation at SRCD was also marked by a role as Ad hoc Representative of Latin America at the International Affairs Council. Nowadays, she is at the Executive Committee of the International Society for Research in Behavioral Development (ISSBD), also as Ad Hoc Representative of Latin America. Her participation at the Executive Board of the Interamerican Society of Psychology (SIP) is lasting 6 years, and she has been Member of the Scientific Committee of ISSBD Biennial Meetings (Belgium, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Zambia) and of European Society of Developmental Psychology (Germany and Lithuania). Her research focuses primarily on positive developmental and applied psychology, ecological development, children’s rights, resilience, and prosocial moral development. Her papers have been published in several international and Brazilian journals. Her research/intervention has been granted by Kellogg Foundation, World Childhood Foundation (WCF), World Bank, Every Child and various Brazilian agencies. She already lectured at different universities around the world, such as University of Zurich (Switzerland), UIUC, UNL (USA), Universidad del Valle (Colombia), Universidad San Marco (Peru), Pontificia Universidad Católica (Chile), University of North Carolina at Greenboro, University of Nebraska at Lincoln and University of Urbana-Champaign (USA) and others. Her research team has been collaborating with North-American researchers, as well as European and South American. She participates in several programs have an international dimension, including a program to provide services to child victims of violence and their families that has been implemented in Rio Grande do Sul (www.psicologia.ufrgs.br/cep_rua) and Peru (http://www.everychild.org.uk/peru) and a program aimed at combating sexual violence against children and youth within the Mercosul nations (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay; PAIR http://pair.ledes.net). She is also committed to building capacity among youth, and fostering young people’s awareness of their human rights. An ongoing program (Juventude em Cena [Youth on Stage]; http://projetojuventudeemcena.blogspot.com/). Prior studies have been used to develop programs and social policies within the Brazilian Ministries of Health, Education, Housing, Social Welfare, and Justice. Examples of these initiatives include a national youth professional preparation program (Primeiro Emprego [First Job]; http://siteresources.worldbank.org/BRAZIL/3817166.pdf) and a national program to combat child sexual exploitation on the nation’s highways by working with drivers, transportation companies, gas stations, and others involved (Na Mão Certa [In Good Hands]; http://namaocerta.org.br).

Contact Information