Johanne Smith-Nielsen

Johanne Smith-Nielsen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology within the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. She serves as Head of the Family Program at the Centre of Excellence in Early Intervention and Family Studies and coordinates the Clinical MA Program while serving on the Study Board. As a licensed clinical psychologist, she maintains active clinical practice alongside her academic responsibilities.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Psychology from IT University of Copenhagen (2015), an MSc in Psychology (2008), and licensure as a psychologist from the Danish Supervisory Board of Psychological Practices (2010). She is also a Certified Danish Circle of Security Trainer and supervisor.

Dr. Smith-Nielsen's research focuses on infant mental health, early detection and intervention strategies, postnatal depression screening, and quality of care in center-based childcare. Her work bridges clinical practice and research implementation, with particular emphasis on translating research findings into real-world applications.

Her recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on developing and validating screening tools for postnatal depression, evaluating parenting interventions like Circle of Security-Parenting, and examining the complex relationships between maternal mental health, infant development, and caregiving quality. Her research employs rigorous methodologies including randomized controlled trials and prospective cohort studies.

She serves as Principal Investigator for multiple significant research projects including the SECURE project (promoting child-adult interaction quality in childcare), the AiD project (evaluating ATTACH™ parenting program), the Social Eating project (examining family mealtimes), and is Co-PI of the Copenhagen Infant Mental Health Project (CIMPH).

Dr. Smith-Nielsen actively supervises Master's thesis students in Clinical Psychology and provides clinical supervision. Her teaching focuses on clinical psychology, infant and toddler mental health, and perinatal mental health. She also holds external positions as a Lecturer in Infant Mental Health at University College Copenhagen since 2013.