About Batja Mesquita

Batja Mesquita is a social psychologist, an affective scientist, and a pioneer of cultural psychology. She is a professor of psychology at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and director of the Center for Social and Cultural Psychology at the University of Leuven. Before coming to Leuven, she was affiliated to Wake Forest University, the University of Michigan, Stanford University, and the University of Amsterdam. Mesquita is one of the world’s leading authorities on the psychological study of cultural differences in emotions. Her most recent research focuses on the role of emotions in multicultural societies. She studies how emotions affect the belonging of minoritized youth in middle schools, and the social and economic integration of “newcomers” (i.e. newly arrived immigrants). Mesquita has been a consultant for UNICEF and the WHO, and most recently, she was a member of the core group of scientific advisors for the Happiness and Well-being (SEH) Project, and initiative of the Vatican in partnership with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).

KU Leuven Academic Webpage

Honors & Awards

2023 — American Academy for the Arts and Sciences, international honorary member
2022 — Outstanding Contribution to Advances in Cultural Psychology Award (Society for Personality and Social Psychology)
2019 — National Committee of Psychological Sciences, member ( Royal Academies for Science and the Arts in Belgium)
2018 — ERC-Advanced Grant (European Research Council)
2016-2017 — Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Fellow (Stanford University)
2015 — Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium, member
2009 — Fellow of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology (SESP)
2008 — Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA)
2008 — Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)
2007 — Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS)
2005-2007 — Robert P. and Debra Lee Fellowship for outstanding faculty (Wake Forest University)