November 2025 – ESDLab Students Recognized at UAI’s Research Week

During UAI’s 2025 Research Week, students from ESDLab—both undergraduate Psychology students and a student from the Clinical Psychology Master’s program—participated in the university-wide poster session, where students from various disciplines presented their research projects. This event promotes early scientific engagement and strengthens the connection between academic training and scholarly development.

We are proud to share that three of our students were recognized for the rigor and impact of their research on empathy. The first place, for the second consecutive year, was awarded to Fiorella Macchiavello, a student in the UAI Clinical Psychology Master’s program. Supervised by Dr. Sebastián Contreras-Huerta, her study investigates how socioeconomic vulnerability shapes empathic processes, contributing important insights into the influence of social context on emotional perception and resonance.

The second place was awarded to Constanza Pereira and Felipe Méndez, second-year Psychology students at UAI, under the supervision of Dr. Felipe Rojas-Thomas. Their research examined the effects of an empathy training program in first-year Psychology students, incorporating neurophysiological measures to evaluate changes in emotional responses. Together, these projects underscore ESDLab’s commitment to supporting emerging researchers and advancing the scientific study of empathy through innovative methodologies.