The Society for Experimental Social Psychology (SESP) has recognized Elizabeth Page-Gould with a Career Trajectory Award in recognition of uniquely creative and influential scholarly productivity.
“It means a lot to me for my work to be described in this way,” says Page-Gould.
A professor of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science and Canada Research Chair in Social Psychophysiology at the University of Toronto, Page-Gould studies how social interactions with friends and strangers shape experiences in diverse societies. Her work focuses on the role of stress in social interactions, friendship, and individual thriving.
Page-Gould currently serves as the Chair of the Graduate Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto and leads the Social Psychophysiological Research & Quantitative Methods Lab (SPRQL).
SESP is the oldest scientific society for social psychologists, and the Career Trajectory Award is given to only one or two researchers every year. The award celebrates scientific contributions made in the early-to-mid stages of a researcher’s career.
“I received the notification about the Career Trajectory Award while I was travelling home on the TTC,” says Page-Gould. “Honestly, I felt so much excited energy that I started dancing on the sidewalk outside Eglinton West Station, and I just kept going as long as I felt like it. If you were there, then that’s why that lady was dancing!”
She is particularly grateful to her graduate students and collaborators, who have “continually and reciprocally” shaped her ideas.
“Receiving this award blows wind in the sails of my lab and collaborators at a time when our ship's hulls were already loaded up with cargo,” says Page-Gould. “This award feels like a validation that we are not spinning off into oblivion but rather that our ideas are resonating with the field.”
“This award recognizes the work of all of us; We did it all together.”
Page-Gould has previously been named a “Rising Star” by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and received the Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, and the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Prize from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. She is recognized as a Fellow of SESP, APS, and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.