Tania Gonzalez | Future of VR Research | Research Excellence Award

Ms. Tania Gonzalez | Future of VR Research | Research Excellence Award 

Centro de Investigación Cientifica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada, Baja California | Mexico

Tania Maribel González Mendoza is a dedicated Marine Ecologist with over five years of experience in research and monitoring of coral reefs and coastal ecosystems, with a specialization in reef fish ecology. She possesses strong expertise in scientific diving, marine organism collection, biological sample processing, and both field and laboratory data analysis. Throughout her academic career, including her current Ph.D. candidacy at CICESE, she has been actively involved in national research projects addressing critical issues such as ocean acidification, climate change, and reef ecology, contributing to several peer-reviewed publications. Her professional experience includes research assistant roles at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana and active participation in projects like the deep-reef refuge hypothesis, Punta Colonet Port development, and reproductive ecology of damselfish, where she has conducted fieldwork, laboratory analyses, database management, and scientific reporting. She has also contributed to reef restoration and carbonate budget assessments, highlighting her hands-on approach to marine conservation. In addition to research, she is experienced in teaching and technical training, offering courses such as Reef Fish Ecology and Underwater Survey Techniques, and has provided workshops and seminars for scientific outreach. Tania is proficient in statistical and ecological software including RStudio, PRIMER+PERMANOVA, Past, and Statistica, and is certified in scientific and recreational diving (PADI Open Water and Advanced Diver). Fluent in Spanish and competent in English, she combines strong organizational skills, proactivity, responsibility, and teamwork with a commitment to advancing marine science. Her work integrates rigorous scientific methodology with field-based ecological insights, positioning her as a skilled researcher and educator dedicated to the conservation and understanding of coral reef ecosystems.


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Featured Publications

Christiane Lange-Kuttner | Cognitive VR Research | Research Excellence Award

Prof. Christiane Lange-Kuttner | Cognitive VR Research | Research Excellence Award 

Universitat Bremen | Germany

Prof. Dr. Chris Lange-Küttner is an internationally recognised developmental and cognitive psychologist whose extensive academic career spans Germany, the United Kingdom, and Cyprus, with core expertise in children’s visual cognition, spatial development, drawing, memory, intelligence, uncertainty processing, and developmental differences such as ASD and ADHD. She currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Cognitive Development and previously held long-term editorial roles in major journals including Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, and International Journal of Developmental Science. She holds an H-index exceeding 90 across major citation platforms, reflecting her substantial research influence. Educated at the Technical University Berlin and Free University Berlin, she earned her Dr. phil. magna cum laude, published her early landmark work on children’s graphic competence, and later completed her habilitation at the University of Bremen on spatial systems in development and learning. Her academic appointments include W3 and W2 Professorships in Developmental Psychology (Greifswald, Konstanz), more than two decades as Senior Lecturer at London Metropolitan University, and adjunct faculty roles at the University of Nicosia. She has led major research projects such as INSIDE at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories and has contributed significantly to academic leadership as Chair of the TEAP Conference, Psychology Ethics Committee Chair, Erasmus Coordinator, and PhD viva examiner. Her honours include listings in Outstanding Intellectuals of the 21st Century and Who’s Who, alongside multiple fellowships such as FHEA and Associate Fellow of the BPS. Prof. Lange-Küttner’s recent publications span influential topics including school transitions, ADHD–education links, visual search, spatial heuristics, relative age effects, longitudinal school performance, and academic-social profiles in autism. Her extensive earlier work includes foundational studies on drawing development, perceptual load, spatial binding, mental rotation, reaction time systems, bilingual speech preparation, object-based practice in Alzheimer’s disease, and cognitive mechanisms underlying children’s learning. She has supervised multiple doctoral and master’s students and mentored international interns whose work has led to published outcomes. Skilled in Python, R, SPSS, JMP, MPlus, AMOS, and experimental software, she integrates computational, statistical, and experimental methodologies to advance developmental science. Her career is marked by cross-disciplinary impact, global collaborations, and sustained contributions to understanding how children perceive, organise, and learn from the visual and spatial world.

Profiles: Scopus | Orcid

Featured Publications

Chris Lange-Kuttner, C. (2025). Spatial heuristics and random spatial exploration: Children, adults, and the machine coloring-in places in the grid game. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology.

Chris Lange-Kuttner, C. (2025). Visual search and domain-specific interests in children. International Journal of Developmental Science.

Chris Lange-Kuttner, C. (2025). The relative age effect in secondary schools. Cognitive Development.

Chris Lange-Kuttner, C. (2025). A 5-year longitudinal study about the effect of school change on grades. The Journal of Genetic Psychology.

Chris Lange-Kuttner, C. (2025). Academic and social profiles of adolescents with autism. Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling.

Chris Lange-Kuttner, C. (2024). Are school grades correlated with competencies in secondary school pupils with special needs? Frontiers in Education.

Chris Lange-Kuttner, C. (2024). Object-based practice effects recover the graphic object concept in Alzheimer’s dementia. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.

Chris Lange-Kuttner, C. (2024). COVID-stressed schools struggled to teach mathematics. Acta Psychologica.

Chris Lange-Kuttner, C. (2024). Visual and motor cognition in children and infants. Routledge.