Noemí Pereda (Barcelona, 1975) obtained her BSc in Psychology at the Universitat de Barcelona, where she also obtained her PhD (Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award) in 2006. She was a visiting researcher in the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, where she understood the importance of building a culture of evidence in violence research. She became an Associate Professor at the Universitat de Barcelona, where she leads the 'Grup de Recerca en Victimització Infantil i Adolescent' (GReVIA). She serves as temporary adviser for the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe for the study of child and adolescent victimization in Spain. She is also a member of the Catalan Ombudsman’s Advisory Council for the ‘Prevenció de la Tortura i altres Tractes o Penes Cruels, Inhumans o Degradants'. She provides in-service training for practitioners on violence against children sponsored by the Spanish and Catalan Governments. 

Research interests

Our research interest focuses on developmental victimology, a field that studies victimization of children and youth, the consequences for mental health of violent experiences at an early age, and the resilience factors individuals develop to cope with these experiences. At present, the GReVIA research is driven by the idea that the existence of a ‘v factor’, or a general victimology factor, in the structure of interpersonal victimization can be empirically demonstrated. This work has an enormous impact on the design of public policies for reducing the risk of victimization in children, and to raise public awareness about the situations of violence suffered by one of the most victimized groups in society. Our main goal is to foster an evidence-based approach that is able to produce valid and reliable results and help practitioners and public agencies to prevent violence against children. 

Keywords

victimology, victim, children, trauma, violence, ptsd