Marie Polášková

After completing my secondary education at Gymnázium Jaroslava Seiferta in Prague I moved to England where I graduated from BSc in Psychology. During my undergraduate studies I was selected to become a Laidlaw Scholar. As part of the Laidlaw Research and Leadership Programme I was funded to conduct an independent research outside of my undergraduate curriculum at the Durham Developmental Science research group. The research investigated the effects of visuomotor synchrony and body size on children's embodiment and perception. Additionally, at St John’s College I coordinated student support while helping students to take care of their mental health. After my studies I returned to the Czech Republic where I worked in an NGO. After that I spent the “pandemic” year near Bratislava in a leadership formation programme. In October I will be starting MSc in Psychological Research at the University of Oxford. This course will equip me with skills needed for research while giving me the possibility to work on my own research project. I would like to join one of the Oxford labs, which focuses on strategies for psychological resilience among children and adolescents. The research is then applied to new intervention strategy and policy. My goal is to bring the gained knowledge back home and start new programmes supporting children’s mental health in our Czech society.