Nerina Caltabiano

Nerina Caltabiano is a social psychologist with research interests incorporating multidisciplinary perspectives from pathology, health, development and educational psychology. She embraces both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in her research.

Her Honours thesis investigated symbolic hand gestures in children from different cultures which extended knowledge of non-verbal communication in 3-6 year-old children, and employed an innovative stroboscopic photographic technique to depict the gestures. Her PhD thesis combined aspects of pathology and social psychology in examining community reactions to compulsive casino gamblers who differed in terms of gender and ethnicity. More recently her focus has turned to understanding and preventing aggressive behaviours which undermine psychological wellbeing, including youth suicide, bullying and cyberbullying.

Nerina has teaching responsibilities at both the Cairns and Singapore campuses and is the Cairns Campus Fourth-Year Coordinator. She is also a member of both the Australian and the American Psychological Societies.