Dark Triad, Virtual Reality and Sporting Choice to be Explored by BGU Students at International Conference

From today staff and students from Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) will be joining academic colleagues from around the world in presenting at the 2020 Affect, Personality and Embodied Brain (APE) research network online conference.

APE2020 is the first conference held by the Affect, Personality and Embodied Brain Network which is a group of international researchers whose work examines the biological underpinnings of cognitive and affective traits and how they manifest in personality and behaviour. The three-day conference will be held virtually and will feature presenters from as far as Brazil and New Zealand on a diverse range of topics such as Adverse Childhood Experiences and psychopathology, Music Mind and Wellbeing, and Diet and Depression.

In addition, there will also be the following presentation by BGU students:

• How Secondary Psychopathy Mediates the Relationship between Sporting Choice and Aggression and its sub facets: Scott Kidd and Olivia Birkin
• Do Dark Triad traits function as defence mechanisms in reducing death anxiety?: Emily Layton
• An exploration study into the link between Psychopathy and Memory of a Virtual Reality Game in Undergraduate Students: Leah Kerr

Dr Alyson Blanchard, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at BGU, will be joining the students for their presentations and spoke of her pride at their achievements:

“I am extremely proud of Leah, Emily, Scott and Olivia to have reached this level of achievement during their undergraduate careers. Their projects were innovative and inspired, and the work produced to a very high standard. They should also be recognised for having the motivation and commitment to having submitted an abstract for consideration by the conference committee. This will be an exciting and rewarding experience for them, not only in terms of presenting, but also in meeting and being part of a community of international researchers within a conference setting where they'll learn about the most up to date research in the field.”

The conference, which runs from today until the 25^th, is still open for registration and, as a virtual event is accessible to all at a nominal fee of only €10 – the Key Note speeches can be viewed for free. More information can be found at https://apenetwork.wordpress.com/ape-2020-conference/.