Hema Preya Selvanathan

Hema was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She completed her PhD in Social Psychology, with a concentration in the Psychology of Peace and Violence, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2019). She then joined the University of Queensland as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and is now a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology.

Hema's research is guided by a central theme: both social change and the maintenance of the status quo are often achieved through sustained group-based efforts. To this end, Hema conducts research around ongoing social and political issues using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in laboratory, online, and field settings across diverse regions of the world. This research is only possible through close collaboration with mentors, colleagues, and students.

Hema's research interests encompass social change and intergroup relations, social movements and collective action, collective resistance, intergroup solidarity, intergroup conflict and reconciliation. Her work has been published in leading journals, such as the Leadership Quarterly, British Journal of Social Psychology, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, and Political Psychology. She has received awards for her research, including the 2023 Early Career Research Award by the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists. Hema currently serves as an Associate Editor for the British Journal of Social Psychology, and is on the Editorial Boards of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Personality and Social Psychology Review, and Social and Personality Psychology Compass as Consulting Editor.