Lisa-Christine Girard
Lecturer

Contact details
- Tel: +44 0131 651 3938
- Email: Lisa-Christine.Girard@ed.ac.uk
Address
- Street
-
Old Medical School
Doorway 6, Teviot Place
Room 2m9 - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
Availability
Office Hours Mondays 1:00-4:00pm.
Background
Prior to joining the Clinical Psychology Department here in Edinburgh, I held a Research fellowship in Bordeaux, France, based in the Bordeaux Population Health, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Research Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatics, U1219 Healthy team.
Previous to this appointment, I held a Marie Curie Research Fellowship (International Incoming Fellow; under the 7th Framework Programmes) at the University College Dublin, School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sport Science, cross appointed with the Geary Institute for Public Policy.
I also held a Research Fellowship at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France which was jointly appointed by the Research Unit on Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment (GRIP), University of Montreal, Canada.
My background training has been multidisciplinary whereby I received my Ph.D in Speech-Language Pathology from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, a Master in Education specializing in Human Development and Applied Psychology from OISE/University of Toronto, and an Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology, from the University of Toronto. Developmental psychology and public health encompasses the cornerstone of my research agenda.
The majority of my research to date has been conducted with population-based cohorts, which include cohorts from across Great Britain, Europe, and North America.
Qualifications
2017. Research Fellow. Bordeaux Population Health, Inserm Research Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatics, U1219 team Healthy, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
2015-2017. Marie Curie International Incoming Fellow, FP7. School of Public Health, Physiotherapy, and Sports Science and the Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin.
2013-2015. Research Fellow. Joint appointment with the Research Unit on Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment (GRIP), University of Montreal, and Paris-Sud Innovation Group in Adolescent Mental Health, Inserm U669, Paris, France.
2013. Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto.
2009. Masters of Education, Department of Human Development and Applied Psychology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/ University of Toronto.
2007. Honours Bachelor of Science, Departments of Psychology and Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto.
Responsibilities & affiliations
2015-Present. Children’s Research Network for Ireland and Northern Ireland. Member.
2014-Present. Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA). Member.
Postgraduate teaching
Programmes:
MSc in Applied Psychology for Children and Young People
MSc Children and Young People's Mental Health and Psychological Practice (Online Distance Learning)
Courses:
Research Methods in Applied Psychology
Inferential Statistics in Applied Psychology
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Research summary
My overarching research program has been geared towards a better understanding of the ways in which social-behavioural (particular focus on aggression, conduct problems, peer exclusion and prosocial behaviour) and cognitive development (particular focus on language and literacy) in early childhood are connected. I have examined a wide range of possible determinants of these developmental outcomes such as breastfeeding, within child factors, the family environment and parenting practices, the classroom environment, and teacher training, combining multidisciplinary approaches and specialised statistical techniques to better understand possible causal paths.
Keywords: aggression, conduct problems, peer exclusion, prosocial behaviours, language development, breastfeeding, population cohorts, quantitative analysis.
Current research interests
My major research interests include: Social-behavioural development; Externalising problems; Aggression; Conduct problems; Language development; Emergent literacy development; Breastfeeding; Perinatal risk factors; Fetal programming.Research activities
- The 2017 Criminology Symposium to
- Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development to
- Impact of breastfeeding on cognitive and behavioural development
- The Growing Up in Ireland Annual Research Conference
- A human investment in the protection and promotion of children’s cognitive and non-cognitive abilities: The story of breastfeeding.
- The 24th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development to
- The 15th World Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health to
- The impact of breastfeeding on cognitive and non-cognitive development at age three: the Growing Up in Ireland infant cohort.
- Developmental associations between conduct problems and expressive language: Cross-lagged modeling using a population based cohort from the UK.
- The impact of breastfeeding on cognitive and non-cognitive development at age three: the Growing Up in Ireland infant cohort
- Children’s Research Network for Ireland and Northern Ireland Annual Research Conference
- Growing Up in Ireland Annual Research Conference
- CLOSER conference “The importance of early years, childhood and adolescence: Evidence from longitudinal studies”
- Developmental associations between conduct problems and expressive language: Cross-lagged modeling using a population based cohort from the UK.
- Factors associated with breastfeeding initiation rates: A comparison between EDEN and a Quebec mother-child cohort (ELDEQ)
- Modeling the longitudinal associations between prosocial behaviours and communication ability in the toddler years: What role do parents play?
- Expressive language ability and prosocial behaviour in early childhood: Longitudinal associations from the UK Millennium Cohort Study.
- Pourquoi certaines mères allaitent et d'autres pas? Les prédicteurs de l'état de l'allaitement maternel
- Annual International Conference of the Association of Psychology and Psychiatry for Adults and Children May 19-22nd, 2015, to
- International Symposium on Education and Psychology to
-
Counselling interventions to enable women to initiate and continue breastfeeding: A systematic review and meta-analysis
(19 pages)
In:
International breastfeeding journal, vol. 14
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13006-019-0235-8
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Breastfeeding initiation and duration in Chile: Understanding the social and health determinants
In:
Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2018-211148
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Breastfeeding and behavioural problems: Propensity score matching with a national cohort of infants in Chile
In:
BMJ Open, vol. 9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025058
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Predicting postpartum depression among adolescent mothers: A systematic review of risk
In:
Journal of affective disorders
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.12.041
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Development of aggression subtypes from childhood to adolescence: A group-based multi-trajectory modelling perspective
In:
Journal of abnormal child psychology, pp. 1-14
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-018-0488-5
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Breastfeeding and externalising problems: A quasi-experimental design with a national cohort
In:
European child & adolescent psychiatry, vol. 27, pp. 877-884
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-017-1085-9
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Harsh parenting practices mediate the association between parent affective profiles and child adjustment outcomes: Differential associations for mothers and fathers
In:
International Journal of Behavioral Development, pp. 1-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025418769376
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Predicting postpartum depression among adolescent mothers: A systematic review of risk
Research output: Contribution to Conference › Poster (Accepted/In press) -
L’insertion scolaire des élèves issus de l’immigration – enjeux et perspectives de prévention
In:
Neuropsychiatrie de l'enfance et de l'adolescence, vol. 65, pp. 180-187
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurenf.2017.03.006
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Breastfeeding, cognitive and noncognitive development in early childhood: A population study
In:
Pediatrics, vol. 139, pp. e20161848
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1848
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Factors associated with breastfeeding initiation: A comparison between France and French-speaking Canada
In:
PLoS ONE, vol. 11, pp. e0166946
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166946
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Maternal warmth and toddler development: Support for transactional models in disadvantaged families
In:
European child & adolescent psychiatry, vol. 26, pp. 497-507
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0913-7
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Phonological awareness, vocabulary and internalizing behavior: A closer look at the associations in preschoolers using a structural equation modeling approach.
Research output: › Discussion paper (Published) -
Developmental associations between conduct problems and expressive language in early childhood: A population-based study
In:
Journal of abnormal child psychology, vol. 44, pp. 1033-1043
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-0094-8
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Expressive language and prosocial behaviour in early childhood: Longitudinal associations in the UK Millennium Cohort Study
In:
European Journal of Developmental Psychology, vol. 14, pp. 381-398
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2016.1215300
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Fostering children's alphabet knowledge at school entry through engagement in family literacy activities
In:
Children's Research Digest: Researching Early Childhood, vol. 2, pp. 72-79
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Physical aggression and language ability from 17 to 72 months: Cross-lagged effects in a population ample
In:
PLoS ONE, vol. 9, pp. 1-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112185
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
An Investigation of the Predictors of Emergent Literacy Skills in Junior Kindergarten
Research output: › Doctoral Thesis (Published) -
Investigating the relationship between social behaviors and phonological awareness in preschool children
In:
Journal of applied developmental psychology, vol. 34, pp. 123-130
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2013.01.002
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Educators' literacy practices in two emergent literacy contexts
In:
Journal of Research in Childhood Education, vol. 27, pp. 46-60
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2012.739591
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
Invited speaker
- Girard, L.C. UCD Childhood and Human Development Research Centre (CHD-RC) launch, December 12th, 2016, Dublin, Ireland.
- Girard, L.C. Big Data at the heart of 21st Century Research, University of Edinburgh, September 29th, 2016, Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Girard, L.C. Telethon Kids, February 16th, 2016, West Perth, Australia.
- Girard, L.C. The Life Course Centre, University of Queensland, February 11th, 2016 Brisbane Australia
- Girard, L.C. The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, February 25th, 2016, Melbourne Australia.
- Girard, L.C. The Conseil des investigateurs de l’étude EDEN, l’amphithéâtre Lapersonne de l'Hôtel Dieu, September 28th, 2015, Paris, France.
- Girard, L.C. Inserm U669 (PSIGIAM: Paris-Sud innovation group in adolescent mental health), June 16th, 2015.
- Girard, L.C. University College Dublin, School of Psychology Seminar Series, November 24th, 2015, Dublin, Ireland.
- Girard, L.C. University College Dublin, Geary Seminar Series, September 15th 2015, Dublin, Ireland.
- Girard, L.C. University College Dublin, Geary Summer Symposium on Early Childhood Research, July 15th, 2015, Dublin, Ireland.
Papers delivered
- Girard, L.C., Doyle, O., & Tremblay, R.E. The 2017 Criminology Symposium, June 19th-21st, 2017, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Girard, L.C., Doyle, O., & Tremblay, R.E. Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 6th-8th, 2017, Austin Texas, USA.
- Girard, L.C., Doyle, O., & Tremblay, R.E. The Growing Up in Ireland Annual Research Conference, November 3rd 2016, Dublin, Ireland.
- Girard, L.C., Doyle, O., & Tremblay, R.E. The 24th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, July 10-14th, 2016, Vilnius, Lithuania.
- Girard, L.C., et al. The 15th World Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, May 29th – June 2nd, 2016, Prague, Czech Republic.
- Girard, L.C., Doyle, O., & Tremblay, R.E. The Children’s Research Network for Ireland and Northern Ireland Annual Research Conference, December 10th, 2015, Dublin, Ireland.
- Girard, L.C., Doyle, O., & Tremblay, R.E. The Growing Up in Ireland Annual Research Conference, December 3rd 2015, Dublin, Ireland.
- Girard, L.C., Pingault, J.B., Doyle, O., Falissard, B., & Tremblay, R.E. CLOSER conference “The importance of early years, childhood and adolescence: Evidence from longitudinal studies”, November 30th, 2015, London, United Kingdom.
- Girard, L.C., Pingault, J.B., Doyle, O., Falissard, B., & Tremblay, R.E. The 23rd European Congress of Psychiatry (EPA), March 28-31st, 2015, Vienna, Austria.
- Girard, L.C., Pingault, J.B., Doyle, O., Falissard, B., & Tremblay, R.E. The Annual International Conference of the Association of Psychology and Psychiatry for Adults and Children (APPAC) May 19-22nd, 2015, Athens, Greece.
- Sarot, A., Girard, L.C., Chomentowski, M., Falissard, B., & Moro, M.R. The International Symposium on Education and Psychology, April 1-3rd, 2015, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Girard, L. C., Pingault, J.B., Falissard, B., Boivin, M., Dionne, G., & Tremblay, R.E. The International Association for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP), August 11-14th, 2014, Durban, South Africa.
- Girard, L.C., Girolametto, L. The Connaught Global Challenge International Symposium, September 27-29th, 2012, Toronto, Canada.
- Girard, L.C., Girolametto, L. The International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD), July 8-12th, 2012, Edmonton, Canada.
- Girard, L.C., Girolametto, L., Weitzman, E. & Greenberg, J. The 12th International Congress for the Study in Child Language, July 19-23rd, 2011, Montreal, Canada.
- Kiefer, H., Chen, X. & Girard, L. The 15th Annual Meeting Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, July 2008, North Carolina, United States.