Alberto Danilo Garcia
Professor i psykologi
Kontakt
Telefon: 51832145
E-post: alberto.d.garcia@uis.no
Rom: KA A-302
Avdeling
Det samfunnsvitenskapelige fakultet
Institutt for sosialfag
Kort om meg
I am an associate professor specialized in personality psychology, well-being, and work-and organizational psychology. I'm the head of research for the Promotion of Health and Innovation (PHI) Lab and the Lab for Biopsychosocial Personality Research (BPS-PR). My research comprises genetics and (epi)genetics of personality, well-being, resilience, virtues, free will, organizational psychology, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a method to bridge quantitative and qualitative research techniques, among others.
I obtained my Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 2012, with a dissertation entitled “Adolescents’ Happiness: The Role of the Affective Temperament Model on Memory and Apprehension of Events, Subjective Well-Being, and Psychological Well-Being”. I have completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Centre for Ethics, Law and Mental Health, University of Gothenburg, Sweden (2011-2013) and at the Center for Well-Being, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, USA (2014-2015). I have also held positions as Head of Research (2015-2020) while being appointed associate professor at the University of Gothenburg in 2015. In the last years I was visiting professor at La Sapienza University of Rome, Italy and at the University of Fortaleza, Brazil.
I have authored or co-authored over 125 scientific articles, over half as the first author, three textbooks, 33 book chapters, over 150 presentations at scientific meetings, and numerous encyclopedia entries, editorials, commentaries, and reviews. My main research themes include personality, well-being, and resilience, free will, work climate, burnout, and parasocial relationships, substance addiction, ADHD and Autism using methods like classical test theory, item response theory, quantitative semantic test theory, and behavioral and molecular (epi)genetics. Additionally, I have been working with machine learning (i.e., AI) since 2009 and developed, together with colleagues, research to assess personality and health using people’s own narratives and descriptions. This work has led to innovations on how to measure psychological concepts and new psychometric tools to bridge quantitative and qualitative methodology in different scientific fields within psychology. I’m in the editorial board of Frontiers in Psychology and Scientific Reports and act as reviewer for several journals in my field of expertise.
My international collaborations include significant projects on genetics and epigenetics of personality and well-being, working with notable researchers such as C. Robert Cloninger. In 2013, co-founded and lead the International Network for Well-Being, fostering a global multidisciplinary research community of junior and senior researchers and students focused on personality psychology and the science of well-being. I have been the main supervisor for one Ph.D. student from start and co-supervisor for another who have successfully defended their thesis (2022 and 2015, respectively). I’m currently the main supervisor for one Ph.D. candidate and the co-supervisor of another that will defend their thesis next year (both from start). Additionally, I have co-supervised two Ph.D. students to completion (2017 and 2020) and supervised numerous master's and bachelor's students. I have been the main advisor of one postdoctoral researcher (2020-2021), and I am currently the main advisor of two other (since 2023 and 2024, respectively).
Since 2014, I have lectured at the Bachelor and Master levels at different universities (e.g., Linköping University, the University of Gothenburg, Lund University, and Linnaeus University). I have also been responsible for PhD reading courses and have over 7000 hours of teaching, including supervision. I have completed courses in pedagogy for higher education at the University of Gothenburg in 2011 and at Linköping University in 2022, covering both basic university pedagogics and supervision. My teaching portfolio includes courses in cognitive neuroscience, work and organizational psychology, quantitative and qualitative methodology, personality psychology, social psychology, and others.
I have led five large-scale and several smaller research projects, securing substantial external funding in broad national and international competition, including the Swedish Research Council for the years 2016-2019. I have actively contributed to organizational development and societal collaboration through my career.