18th July 2025
The Behavioral Science and Health (BSiH) Lab was proud to actively participate in the European Congress of Psychology (ECP 2025) held in Paphos, Cyprus—an inspiring week of cutting-edge psychological science and collaborative exchange!
🧬 Vaccination & Behavioral Insights: Co-Operator Project Symposium
Led by Dr. Angelos Kassianos, the Co-Operator project was showcased in a dedicated symposium featuring contributions from consortium partners:
Laura Panagi (Cyprus University of Technology) presented the development of a multi-language questionnaire assessing healthcare professionals’ readiness to promote vaccination.
Francesco Baglivo (University of Pisa) shared results from three reviews conducted during the project, highlighting the need for rigorous evaluation of vaccination promotion strategies and stronger integration of influenza vaccination into public health policy.
Prof. Adriana Baban (Babes-Bolyai University), as discussant, emphasized the importance of embedding behavioral and cultural insights into national and European vaccination policies.
🌱 Nature & Mental Health: GreenTouch Project Symposium
The GreenTouch Erasmus+ project was featured in a well-attended symposium chaired by Dr. Kristine Martinsone (Rīga Stradiņa universitāte), exploring ecopsychology’s role in well-being:
Marianna Koutsantoni (CUT), Aija Ozola (RSU), and Kleio Apostolaki (Hellenic Ecopsychology Society) presented findings across three studies.
Dr. Angelos Kassianos, serving as discussant, reflected on the consistent gap between valuing and practicing nature-based self-care, and called for system-level interventions to support human–nature connection.
🧠 UnBias: Cognitive Mechanisms in Health Anxiety
Dr. Athina Manoli presented her #METADIDAKTOR fellowship project UnBias, exploring attentional patterns in individuals with elevated health anxiety. Her findings suggest a vigilance–avoidance response toward health-threat stimuli—offering new insights into threat-specific cognitive mechanisms.
🤝 Regional Collaboration in Psychology: New MoU Signed
A significant step forward in regional academic cooperation: a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Cyprus Psychologists’ Association (CyPsA) and the Lebanese Psychological Association (LPA) to promote joint training, research, and knowledge exchange across borders.
🧑🎓 PhD Research on VR in AYA Cancer Care
Nikolina Dodlek, PhD candidate at Cyprus University of Technology, co-supervised by Andreas Charalambous, Angelos Kassianos, and Marios Avraamides, presented part of her PhD journey on the use of virtual reality to manage psychological side effects in remote adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer care.
📢 Stay tuned for upcoming publications and collaborations!
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