Mengyao Li

Mengyao Li is a Lecturer at the School of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast. Prior to this, she served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods in Bonn, Germany (2022). She holds a PhD from the Psychology of Peace and Violence Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2017) and a joint BA in Psychology and Human Rights from Bard College (2012).

Education:

• PhD in Psychology of Peace and Violence, University of Massachusetts Amherst (2017)
• Joint BA in Psychology and Human Rights, Bard College (2012)

Research Interests:
Her work bridges social, political, and peace psychology, focusing on intergroup conflict resolution, political violence, national/ethnic identity, transitional justice, and civil resistance. Current projects include examining historical collective trauma’s long-term effects on modern conflicts and analyzing political resistance strategies in repressive regimes. She emphasizes contextualizing research for underrepresented regions and marginalized groups, integrating theories from political science, law, sociology, and health psychology. Methodologies include surveys, experiments, field experiments, archival analyses, and interviews.

Articles Trends:
Recent publications (2022–2025) highlight themes like moral courage’s role in societal challenges, psychological consequences of collective trauma, and the dynamics of resistance in authoritarian contexts. She explores macro-level systems like media and repression alongside micro-level psychological processes such as trust, efficacy, and justice sensitivity. Her work often intersects with global crises (e.g., pandemic responses) and historical reconciliation efforts.

Scientific Awards:

• European Journal of Social Psychology Early Career Best Article Award (2018)

Advising and Grants:
She supervises PhD students interested in intergroup conflicts, political resistance in non-democratic contexts, and post-conflict justice processes. While specific grants are not listed, her research has been supported through collaborative projects and institutional affiliations. Recent activities include advising at the British Society for the Psychology of Individual Differences conference (2025) and presenting on Northern Ireland’s transitional justice.

Labs & Collaborations:
Dr. Li collaborates with global researchers to conduct cross-national studies, contributing to global psychological perspectives on repression and conflict resolution. Her work often involves interdisciplinary teams, reflecting her interest in combining psychological theories with political science, law, and sociology.