Research seminars Profs. Presti and Moderato

Abstract

The international participation of the Laboratório de Aprendizagem Humana, Multimídia Interativa e Ensino Informatizado (LAHMIEI) research group, at the Department of Psychology and Special Education of UFSCar, has been increasing throughout the years and, currently, it has been playing an important role in the collaborative work between Brazilian public universities and universities around the world through grant and scholarship awards by FAPESP, CNPq and CAPES. As an indicator of the potential of this international participation we mention the Seminário Internacional de Pesquisa do LAHMIEI, which is in its tenth edition. Currently, the international participation of the LAHMIEI research group has been greatly noted through the São Paulo School for Advanced Science (ESPCA): Advances in research and treatment of autistic behavior, supported by FAPESP. The conference was held from January 9th to 13th of 2012 and received researchers and students from Brazil and from all over the world who met to discuss the contemporary advances in research and treatment of individuals with autism. For the X Seminar, we aim to apply for financial support to continue the international participation of the LAHMIEI research group and to develop research in collaboration with the invited researcher Giovambattista Presti, Ph.D., to participate of activities related to the research line called "Complex human behavior: analysis, methodology and application to people with special educational needs". Giovambatista Presti, Ph.D. graduated in Medicine at the University of Catania, Italy, a degree in clinical psychology from the University of Milan and his doctoral degree in Psychology was obtained at Libera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione (IULM). He is currently associate professor and director of the Psychology Post Graduate Program at Kore University, Enna, Sicily, Italy. Many of his research interest are shared with LAHMIEI, such as, verbal behavior, language and cognition, clinical and educational assessment, complex behavior analysis, decision making and practical applications. Prof. Presti is also a founding member of Istituto Europeo di Studi sul Comportamento Umano (IESCUM) and also a board member of Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies and a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Behavior Analysis and Autism Spectrum Disorders (IJOBAS). The invitation is justified, firstly, because of the contributions of Giovambattista Presti to the area and, hence, because it will make possible to the LAHMIEI research group to attend to research activities in collaboration with the afore mentioned professor. The research projects Prof. Presti will be consulting in on during his visit are listed in the attached file "Description of Research Projects". The required funding will allow Giovambattista Presti to participate in the following activities: (1) oral data-based or conceptual/theoretical presentations to graduate and undergraduate psychology students and faculty of at our International Research Seminar series, organized by the students of our laboratory; at the tenth edition will take place at UFSCar, and at the eleventh with the 1st Scientific Meeting at the Italian Society Amici D'Italia in the city of São José do Rio Preto, SP, and the twelfth edition will take place at Nucleo Paradigma, São Paulo, SP; (2) advice for the ongoing projects related to his research experience and conducted by the researchers of LAHMIEI; (4) writing articles, in collaboration, to international journals; (6) data discussion and design of new projects to be conducted in collaboration. (AU)