Who We Are
I-CEPS 2027 Strategic Advisors
Dr Ron Prinz, is a Carolina Distinguished Professor and Co-Director of the Research Centre for Child Well-being at the University of South Carolina. The center conducts prevention research impacting the well-being of children ages 2 to 10, with the dual goal of: reducing risk for social, emotional, and behavioral problems, and decreasing unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. He is Co-Director of the U of SC’s longest funded NIH T32 predoctoral research training program, which provides extensive training in epidemiology, exercise science, and psychology doctoral programs. Dr Prinz is the co-founder (in collaboration with Dr. Thomas Ollendick, Virginia Tech University) of the Springer scientific journal Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, and served as Co-Editor-in-Chief from 1998 to 2023.His major research interests are in the areas of prevention science and the well-being of children, focusing extensively on understanding, preventing, and reducing behavioral-health related problems
in children and families. His research has addressed parenting interventions, prevention of child maltreatment, assessment of child and parent behaviors, parental substance use, and violence prevention.
Dr Kerri McPherson is a Professor and Associate Dean (Learning, Teaching and Quality) in the School of Health and Life Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University, UK. She is a member of the Child and Adolescent Health Research Group. Her research interests and expertise lie in the field of health behaviours, behaviour change and (public) health interventions. Her most recent work has been in the context of children, young people and parents. Her doctorate was in men’s health and the psychology of weight management. She has attracted funding from a number of sources including the National Institute for Health Research, the NHS, and the Chief Scientists Office. She currently leads the SMYLE project. She is supervising a number of doctoral students conducting projects that include exploring social capital and mental health and wellbeing in young people, young care experienced parents' perceptions and experiences of safeguarding, and parenting interventions.
Dr Richard Hastings is a Professor for the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology at the University of Birmingham, UK. He has been recognised for his research contribution to the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities with awards from three international organisations: the American Association of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (International Award 2021), the National (USA) Association for the Dually Diagnosed (2023 Steven Reiss Research Award), and the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (Research Award 2024). He was Editor in Chief of the Journal of Intellectual Disability Research (2018-2021) and has served as an associate/action editor or editorial board member for 17 other peer review research journals. His main research focus is on topics relating to mental health in children and adults with intellectual disabilities, family support, early intervention, and educational outcomes for children with intellectual disabilities. He also carries out research on evidence based mental health and well-being interventions in mainstream schools and parenting and family support for young people with mental health or behaviour challenges.
Dr Bonamy Oliver is a Professor of Developmental and Family Psychology at University College London, UK. Her research focuses on large-scale UK cohort studies, where she has long-standing experience as a co-investigator and collaborator on projects including the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), CoTEDS, and the Early Life Cohort. She works closely with educational and clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and family practitioners. She completed her PhD in Psychology and Behavioural Genetics and post-doctoral training at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings' College London. She previously worked as a Senior Researcher at the National Academy for Parenting Research (Kings College London Department for Education) before joining faculty at the University of Sussex. In 2023, she received a prestigious impact award from the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) and has contributed to NICE guidelines (NG72; NG223) and to national educational policy.
Dr Peter Corke is a robotics researcher, educator and writer. He left full-time university service in 2024 but maintains a connection to the Centre for Robotics at Queensland University of Technology, Australia as a Distinguished Emeritus Professor. He was Director/Co-Director of the QUT Centre for Robotics (2020-23), and before that was Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Robotic Vision (2014-2020). His research is concerned with robotic perception using vision and force, dynamics and control, and the application of robots to tasks in the mining, agriculture and environmental monitoring sectors. Peter's true passion is robotics education. He created widely used open-source software (in Python and MATLAB) for teaching and research in robotics and computer vision. He wrote the best selling textbook “Robotics, Vision, and Control”, now in its 3rd edition, and created the Robot Academy. Collectively these assets have taught robotics to millions of students around the world have led to national and international recognition such as the 2017 Australian University Teacher of the Year, and the 2025 Joseph F. Engelberger award for robotics education.
Dr Carys Chainey is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Parenting and Family Research Centre at The University of Queensland, and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families Over the Life Course. Her research focuses on the links between adverse childhood experiences, parenting, and wellbeing, across the life course and across generations. Committed to progressing the field of parenting and family science, Dr Chainey draws on principles of human centred design to evaluate and enhance the supports provided both to families, and the workforce who develop and deliver parenting interventions. She is CI on the Medical Research Future Fund project “Innovation in the Assessment of Trauma and Adversity”, in which a novel strengths-based method for assessing child and caregiver adversity will be co-produced with practitioners and parents/caregivers with lived-experience. An accredited facilitator of the Triple P Positive Parenting Program, Dr Chainey is leading trials of Family Life Skills Triple P, a new intervention supporting caregivers affected by adversity. She has a growing leadership profile in the field of parenting and family science, serving as operations manager of the Parenting and Family Research Alliance, and strategic advisor of the International Congress on Evidence-based Parenting Support 2027.