Psychological Scientist

Name: Dr Helen Skouteris

Job Title: Psychological Scientist


§ BIOGRAPHY

Dr Helen Skouteris is a lecturer in the School of Psychological Science.
Since 1988, her research interests have focused largely on perceptual and cognitive development.
Dr Skouteris' Honours and PhD Research was published in 1992 and 1997, respectively, on the topic of integration of progressively exposed shape information by infants and pre-school children.


§ Other Current Research Areas

Dr Skouteris is also active in two other research areas. The first of these is exploring the issue of body image changes during pregnancy and the factors that lead to and result from body dissatisfaction during pregnancy.
The second area of research that has been initiated by Dr Skouteris in recent years is the study of age-of-entry as a factor in the transition of infants into childcare and the impact of this variable on the mother's transition to the workplace. Currently there is no regulated lower age limit for entry into childcare. Dr Skouteris has been awarded an industry collaborative grant to conduct this research.


§ Key Achievements

• Author of two VCE Psychology textbooks by Heinemann
• In 1997 appointed by the Victorian Board of Studies as the tertiary representative for VCE Psychology
• Presented papers at three international development conferences and two domestic developmental conferences
• Speaker: Maternal and Child Health Centres, VCE Psychology teacher conferences
• Initiated the Children's Centre Research Group in 2001 at LaTrobe University. Research projects addressed health, legal and developmental issues that surround children and their families.

§ Personal Life

In her non-academic life, Dr Skouteris is a mother of two pre-school children: Chrisoula four and a half years and Dimitri two and a half. She enjoys taking part in various forms of exercise, such as aerobics, soccer and fun runs and enjoys weekend family time at their shared beach house in Blairgowrie.

---

§ Academic Qualifications

1996	PhD La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia: "Recognition of form after progressive visual exposure by pre-school children".
1991	Honours, First Class, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
1988	Bachelor of Arts, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

Memberships include:

• Society for Research in Child Development
• Australasian Human Development Association
• Australian Psychological Society

§ Awards

1992	Recipient of a Young Achiever Award in Human Development Research. This was awarded by the organising committee of the Seventh Australian Developmental Conference.
1991	Recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Research Award with a higher stipend. La Trobe University may award stipends at the higher level to scholars in research priority areas. The priority area into which my Ph.D research fell was Cognitive Science.
1991	Recipient of the David Myers University Medal that is awarded annually by La Trobe University to the outstanding honours graduate in each school, if of sufficient merit.
1991	Recipient of the Australian Psychological Society Prize. This prize is awarded annually to a fourth year student who, being of sufficient merit, has in that year pursued with most distinction a fourth-year course of study in sychology.

§ Publications

• Skouteris, H., Spataro, J., Robson, N., & Sleeman, F. (submitted).
  " I am the same person today as I was yesterday".
  Young children's appreciation of the continuity of self over time. Child Development.
• Boscaglia, N., Skouteris, H., & Wertheim, E. H. (submitted).
  Changes in body image satisfaction during pregnancy: A comparison of high exercising and low exercising women.
  Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
• Rawlings, M., Skouteris, H., Barry, C., & Rawlings, D. (2000). Heinemann Psychology One. Melbourne: Heinemann.
• Skouteris, H., Rawlings, M., & Whitechurch, R. (2000). Heinemann Psychology Two. Melbourne: Heinemann.
• Skouteris, H., & McKenzie, B.E. (1997).
  Recognition of form by pre-school children after progressive visual exposure. Early Development and Parenting, 6, 159-170.
• McKenzie, B.E., Skouteris, H., Day, R.H., Yonas, A., & Hartman, B. (1993).
  Effective action by infants to contact objects by reaching and leaning.
  Child Development, 64, 415-429.
• Skouteris, H., McKenzie, B.E., & Day, R.H. (1992).
  §Integration of sequential information for shape perception by infants: A developmental study.
  Child Development, 63, 1164-1176.