KAITLYN M. WERNER, PHD

NIH Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Oregon

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Education and Experience

NIH Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2023-
University of Oregon, USA
Visiting Scholar, Approach-Avoidance Motivation Research Group, 2024
University of Rochester, USA
Visiting Scholar, Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory, 2022-
Stanford University, USA
Visiting Scholar, Social Psychology Research Group, 2023
Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
Provost's Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2021-2023
University of Pennsylvania, USA
SSHRC Banting Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2019-2022
University of Toronto, Canada
PhD in Social, Personality, and Health Psychology, 2015-2019
Carleton University, Canada
Visiting Scholar, Social Cognition Center Cologne, 2018
University of Cologne, Germany
MSc in Social Psychology, 2013-2015
University of Victoria, Canada
BA (with distinction and honours) in Psychology, 2009-2013
University of Rochester, USA

Kaitlyn M. Werner, PhD is an NIH Diversity Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Social and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory (Mentor: Dr. Elliot Berkman) at the University of Oregon. She is also a research affiliate collaborating with the Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory (Mentor: Dr. James Gross) at Stanford University. Previously, Kaitlyn was a Provost's Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, a SSHRC Banting Postdoctoral Research Fellow and UTSC Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Affective Science and Health Laboratory (Mentor: Dr. Brett Ford) at the University of Toronto, and completed her doctoral studies in Social, Personality, and Health Psychology in the Goal Pursuit and Self-Regulation Lab (Mentor: Dr. Marina Milyavskaya) at Carleton University.

Beginning July 2025, Dr. Werner will be a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Dr. Werner's research takes a multi-method and interdisciplinary approach to understand the factors that facilitate successful self-regulation, emotion regulation,

and well-being. She also has a strong interest in measurement (e.g., construct and ecological validity), advanced quantitative methods (e.g., multilevel SEM, Bayesian statistics), research design (e.g., experimental, longitudinal, EMA), and meta-science (e.g., transparent and reproducible research practices).

About Me

Recent News

Kaitlyn Werner was awarded an Incoming Postdoctoral Grant from the Estonian Research Council! In collaboration with Anders Uusberg, this grant supports our project, Reappraisal Flexibility as a Pathway to Enhanced Well-Being.
Our paper, An Integrative Model of Personal Goal Pursuit, was accepted for publication at Advances in Motivation Science! Led by Marina Milyavskaya, this conceptual paper reviews existing research, proposes and integrative model of goal pursuit combining a multitude of perspectives, and outlines promising directions for future research.
Kaitlyn Werner was awarded a Seal of Excellence from the European Commission for her proposal, Reappraisal Flexibility as a Pathway to Enhanced Well-Being. This seal is awarded for high-quality research proposals submitted under the Horizon Europe Marie Curie Sklodowska-Curie Actions call.
Our team was awarded the Committee for Inclusive Community Research Award from the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon! Led by Kaitlyn Werner, , we will examine the associations between socioeconomic status, emotion regulation strategies, and health behaviour.

Kaitlyn Werner was accepted into the Navigating Educational Trajectories (NET Neuro) fellowship program at the Center for Translational Neuroscience at the University of Oregon!

Kaitlyn Werner was awarded an Unrestricted Travel Grant from Psi Chi: The International Honor Society in Psychology!
Kaitlyn Werner was awarded an NIH Diversity Supplement Grant from the National Cancer Institute! In collaboration with Elliot Berkman, this grant supports our project, Regulatory flexibility and smoking behavior: Examining within-strategy variation in effectiveness as a function of craving intensity.

Upcoming and Recent Presentations

March 2025: Innovation Forum at the Annual Conference of the Society for Affective Science, Portland, OR. Topic: Emotion Regulation Flexibility: Addressing Conceptual and Methodological Challenges (with Brett Q. Ford, Derek M. Issacowitz, Elise K. Kalokerinos, & Gal Sheppes).
March 2025: Symposim at the Annual Conference of the Society for Affective Science, Portland, OR. Topic: Unpacking reappraisal: Considering heterogeneity in reappraisal tactics to enhance emotion regulation (co-chaired with Andero Uusberg, with speakers Andero Uusberg, Helen Uusberg, Kaitlyn M. Werner, & Ashish Mehta).
February 2025: Research presentation at the Annual Conference of the Society for Social and Personality Psychology, Denver, CO. Topic: Unpacking behaviour change strategies: Considering, goals, tactics, and outcomes (with Elliot T. Berkman & James J. Gross).

November 2024: Research presentation in the Early Childhood Cognition Laboratory at Duke University, Durham, NC. Topic: Why we do hard things: An affective science perspective.

August 2024: Research presentation in the Perth Emotion and Psychopathology Lab at Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Topic: Emotion regulation flexibility.
May 2024: Research presentation in the Stanford Psychophysiology Lab in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Topic: TBD
May 2024: Research presentation at the Annual Convention of the Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, CA. Topic: Integrating self-regulation and affect science perspectives to promote health behaviour change: A process model framework (with Elliot T. Berkman & James J. Gross).