The Hungry Mind Lab, based at the University of York and directed by Professor Sophie von Stumm, conducts research that uses big data and novel methods to explore the causes and consequences of people’s individual differences in behavioural and cognitive development, asking “why are people so different?". The lab runs studies investigating how people’s personality traits, early life environments, and genetic tendencies influence and predict their intelligence, language learning, and educational attainment.

Our guests:

Florence Oxley is a researcher in early years cognitive, communicative and motor development, working at the University of York. She previously worked with the Hungry Mind Lab, on a project about how genes and the environment work together in shaping us cognitively. Florence now works at the York BabyLab on a project using ultrasound of the tongue to explore how sensorimotor feedback from babies' own movements contributes to speech and language development.

Kirsty Wilding is in her final year of her PhD at the Department of Education at the University of York. Kirsty’s PhD studies focus on the association between family background differences and children’s educational and language development. So far Kirsty has focused on how polygenic scores, which index children’s genetic tendencies for education, predict their school performance. She now focuses on disentangling genetic factors from environmental influences that inform together children’s family background differences.

Resources:

https://www.hungrymindlab.com/projects/genetics/

https://senfm.york.ac.uk/

https://babylab.york.ac.uk/

Our Guest: Dr. Scott Bonn is a criminologist, producer, TV analyst, public speaker, and author of the best-selling popular culture book Why We Love Serial Killers: The Curious Appeal of the World’s Most Savage Murderers. He has provided expert commentary and analysis for several high-profile true crime TV shows and documentaries on A&E, Discovery Network, Oxygen, Investigation Discovery, and Travel Channel.

Dr. Scott Bonn has also authored the critically acclaimed sociology book Mass Deception: Moral Panic and the U.S. War on Iraq. His fact-based crime thriller novel, Evil Guardian, was inspired by his correspondence with notorious, real-life serial killers David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) and Dennis Rader (Bind, Torture, Kill).

Dr. Scott Bonn is an expert on criminal behavior and is highly respected for answering the puzzling question of “why the perpetrator did it” in complex murder cases. He makes the seemingly incomprehensible both understandable and highly entertaining for his audience. He examines many types of criminal activity in his Psychology Today blog, “Wicked Deeds,” which has been visited nearly 9 million times and has more than 15,000 social media followers.

Dr. Scott Bonn holds a Ph.D. in Sociology (Criminology) and an M.S. in Criminal Justice.

Website: https://www.docbonn.com/

Dr. Scott Bonn’s live presentation on March 22, 2025

Venue: District Music Hall, 71 Wall Street, Norwalk, CT 06850

Link to purchase tickets - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/serial-killers-with-dr-scott-bonn-tickets-1107514929969?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=wsa&aff=ebdsshwebmobile

Our Guest: Liz Modugno is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Licensed Alcohol and Addiction Counselor (LADC). She is the owner of Aspire Counseling of CT and the Center for Healing Trauma. She has been in the field for over 15 years and during that time has also been the Clinical Director of two local mental health and substance abuse Intensive Outpatient Programs. Liz specializes in addiction, mental health, traumatic experiences, and life changes. She is trained in and practices Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Cognitive Processing therapy (CPT), and Mindfulness. Liz is a Certified EMDR Clinician, EMDRIA Approved Consultant, and EMDR Basic Training Facilitator.

Websites: https://aspirecounselingct.com/ and https://healingtraumaemdr.com/

EMDR International Association: https://www.emdria.org/

Our Guest: Dr. Richard Janka is a licensed clinical psychologist in Michigan. He is the President of 911 Training Institute where he leads the operations and partnerships with public safety agencies and corporate partners. He is a Resilience and Call Mastery Instructor, specializing in the design and delivery of resilience, peer support, and emergency mental health dispatching training for 9-1-1 professionals and other emergency responders. Dr. Richard Janka has received specialized training in the areas of hostage and crisis negotiation, law enforcement stress, line of duty death, and critical incident stress management (CISM). He is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Michigan Psychological Association, as well as a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Fire Service Psychology Association. Dr. Richard Janka conducts first-responder training, including wellness, peer support, and critical incident stress management (CISM). He also serves as a mental health consultant for 15 agencies in the greater Detroit metropolitan area, including Michigan State Police.

Website: https://www.911training.net/

Support 9-1-1 Reclassification Link: https://nena.quorum.us/campaign/74762/

Our Guest:  Michele Conderino, MSW, is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Open Doors, a housing and homeless service organization in Norwalk, Connecticut, that provides resources for individuals and families on the path to housing stability. During her time at Open Doors, she has helped lead the organization to the greater adoption of innovative and evidence-based practices to end homelessness. Michele Conderino provides regional leadership on the Fairfield County Coordinated Access Network, Opening Doors Fairfield County (the HUD Continuum of Care planning body), and the Board of Supportive Housing Works. She has partnered with the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness on a statewide campaign to enlist realtors and to engage landlords.

Website:  https://opendoorsct.org/

Our Guest: Dr. Susan Kavaler-Adler (Ph.D., ABPP, Dr. Litt.,NCPsyA) is a Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Object Relations Institute for Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, where she also serves as Senior Supervisor, Training Analyst, and active Faculty member.  Dr. Kavaler-Adler is a Fellow of the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis (ABPP) and is a psychoanalyst certified by the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP).  She also has an honorary doctorate in Literature.  Dr. Kavaler-Adler is an author, with 7 books and over 70 articles published.  She has received multiple awards for her writing contributions, including a Gradiva Award from NAAP, which she won in 2004 for her 2003 Routledge book “Mourning, Spirituality and Psychic Change: A New Object Relations View of Psychoanalysis.”  Two of Dr. Kavaler-Adler’s seven books are on well-known women writers and artists, and the creative process. She is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Controversial Discussion (IJCD). Dr. Kavaler-Adler runs online groups for therapy, clinical supervision, and creative writing.

Contact: (917)371-5655 and drkavaleradler@gmail.com

https://kavaleradler.com/ 

https://www.amazon.com/stores/Susan-Kavaler-Adler/author/B001H9R88K?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

Resource Links: 

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/striped/report-economic-costs-of-eating-disorders/

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/eating-disorders

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db508.htm

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight

Our Guest: Ian MacRae is a psychologist, award-winning author, and independent researcher specializing in the psychology of work, digital communication, and emerging technologies. He is the author of several books that have been translated into a dozen languages, including High Potential, Web of Value and Dark Social. He also serves on the British Psychological Society Division of Occupational Psychology Committee and Research Board.

Our Guest: Katarzyna Szmigiero is a graduate of the University of Łódź, Poland. She is an Associate Professor at the Department of English Studies at the University of Social Sciences, Lodz, Poland. Her research interests concentrate on medical humanities, especially cultural representations of psychiatry and gender, and genre fiction as well as mythological retellings.

Contact: kszmigiero@san.edu.pl

Our Guest: Nancy Brewka-Clark’s short stories of classic mystery, psychological horror, and speculative otherworldliness have been anthologized in the U.S. by Malice Domestic, in the U.K. by Flame Tree, and by Black Hare Press in Australia. Her short story "One Shy of Load" will appear in Crime Spell Books' forthcoming anthology Devil's Snare: Best New England Crime Stories 2024. A member of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, British Science Fiction Association, and New England Horror Writers, she is the author of the 2020 poetry collection Beautiful Corpus.

Resources:  https://www.facebook.com/TreasuredTreesbyNicole/ and  https://apgen.org/users/nicole-gallant-nunes

Louis Damis, PhD, is a Diplomate with the American Board of Professional Psychology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Health Psychology, the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the Florida Society of Clinical Hypnosis, and the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance, and holds ASCH Certification in Clinical Hypnosis with Consultant Status.

Mark L. Ruffalo, M.S.W., D.Psa., is a psychotherapist in private practice in Tampa, Florida, and serves as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and Adjunct Instructor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine. He has broad clinical experience in the psychoanalytic treatment of mood disorders, personality disorders, and psychosomatic illness, and has particular interest in the psychotherapy of schizophrenia. He serves as the Editor-in-Chief of The Carlat Psychotherapy Report.