Dr Vasilena Stefanova

Lecturer in Psychology

School of Social Sciences

Email:: vasilena.stefanova@bcu.ac.uk

Dr Vasilena Stefanova is a social psychologist with an interest in social identity, the psychology of gender and social interaction. Vasilena completed her PhD in Social Psychology at Queen's University Belfast in 2022. Vasilena also holds a MSc in Research Methods of Psychological Science and a BSc in Psychology from the University of Glasgow. Vasilena's current research focus is on caregiving-related issues in organisational settings and the role of implicit and explicit stereotypes on hiring and promotion decisions.

Areas of Expertise

Qualifications

Teaching

Research

Publications

Stefanova V., Scheepers C., Wilson P., Papageorgiou K.A. (2024) Grandiose narcissism associates with higher cognitive performance under stress through more efficient attention distribution: An eye-tracking study. PLoS ONE 19(5): e0302644. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0302644
Stefanova, V., Latu, I., & Taylor, L. (2023). What Is in a Name? Exploring Perceptions of Surname Change in Hiring Evaluations in Academia. Social Sciences, 12(2), 95. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12020095
Stefanova, V. & Latu, I. (2022) Navigating the leaky pipeline: Do stereotypes about parents predict career outcomes in academia?. PLOS ONE 17(10): e0275670. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0275670
Stefanova, V., Farrell, L. & Latu, I. (2021) ‘Gender and the pandemic: Associations between caregiving, working from home, personal and career outcomes for women and men.’ Current Psychology https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02630-6
Farrell, L., Latu, I. M., Linden, M., Stefanova, V. & McCloskey, K. D. (under review) ‘An Evidence-Based Approach to COVID-19 Pandemic Effects on Academics’
Stefanova, V. & Scheepers, C. (in preparation) ‘Wawk on the Wild Side: Can Phonology Overtake Orthography during Lexical Decision?’.

Conference Presentations

Oral Presentations

Stefanova, V., Farrell, L. & Latu, I. (July, 2021). The impact of the gender imbalance in caregiving duties during lockdown on career outcomes. Presented at the International Congress of Psychology, virtual event.
Stefanova, V., Farrell, L. & Latu, I. (April, 2021). Does the coronavirus pandemic have a gendered impact? Assessing the predictive role of the (im)balance between caregiving responsibilities and working from home for women vs. men. Presented at the Northern Ireland branch of the British Psychological Society annual conference, virtual event.
Stefanova, V. & Latu, I. (May, 2019). Parenting Stereotypes in Academic and Family Contexts: Investigating the Role of Explicit and Implicit Bias. Presented at the Gender, Social Justice and Innovation conference, Belfast, UK.

Poster Presentations

Stefanova, V. & Scheepers, C. (March 2019). The Pseudohomophone Effect in Written Word Processing: An Eye-tracking Investigation. Presented at the International Convention of Psychological Science, Paris, France.