Sumedh Rao

Sumedh Rao

@sumedhrao.bsky.social

Post Doctoral Researcher at the Open University. Intergroup relations, conflict, and governance. Formerly University of Oxford, University of Birmingham, ODI, OECD and DFID.

896 Followers 319 Following 17 Posts Joined Oct 2023
3 weeks ago
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How people in Northern Ireland understand and live their identities after conflict This study explores how people in Northern Ireland think about and experience their identities in everyday life. Instead of assuming that people fit neatly into fixed groups like “Protestant” or “Cath...

Pleased to share my new (and first sole‑authored) article on how people in Northern Ireland experience identity in fluid, complex ways. Interviews in Derry–Londonderry show why “two‑community” narratives fall short.
Kudos summary: link.growkudos.com/1e8u77s464g
DOI: psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/...

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2 months ago
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Political trust in divided societies: Who trusts whom in Northern Ireland? This research looks at trust in politics in Northern Ireland. Nearly 30 years after the Good Friday Agreement, Catholics and Protestants still trust different political institutions. For example, Cath...

Read Political trust in divided societies: Who trusts whom in Northern Ireland? on Kudos: www.growkudos.com/publications...

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2 months ago
APA PsycNet

Delighted to say that my first, first-author journal article is now published in Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 🥳. Big thanks to my mentors and co-authors without whom this wouldn't be possible and the Peace and Conflict editors and reviewers.
psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/...

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6 months ago
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Sumedh Rao's talk is a discursive study of Popery and Prejudice in the context of Anti-Catholicism in England and Wales from 1940-1955 🧵6/7

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6 months ago

Just arrived and looking forward to presenting some initial findings from our @openuniversity.bsky.social project bringing history and psychology together. Join if you're free!

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8 months ago

Thus ends another #ISPP2025. As usual, a great conference - really interesting work and wonderful people. Thanks to the organisers and thanks to my fellow session panel @mjbalezina.bsky.social, Melissa Vega and Anna Wlodarczyk. See you next year in Newcastle!

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9 months ago
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#postdoc in #peace #science at @ucddublin.bsky.social

Work with me on GENERATION PEACE to develop a #global #youth #peacebuilding indictor

Due 11 July, noon
Search Ref #018451 at
my.corehr.com/pls/ucdrecru...

Thx for reposts

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8 months ago

Delighted to have made it to this year's #ISPP2025 and to present this paper from our Shared Spaces project authored with @shelleymckeown.bsky.social and @pierlucdupont.bsky.social

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11 months ago

📣 Submissions are now open for The British Psychological Society Social Psychology Section annual conference taking place at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford from 8-10 September 2025. Come join us!
Submission deadline 23rd April 2025. www.bps.org.uk/event/social...

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1 year ago
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The Longitudinal Effects of Intergroup Contact on Youth Attitudes Towards Ethnic Minorities and Constructive Societal Engagement Growing empirical evidence demonstrates that intergroup contact has the potential to reap effects that go beyond prejudice reduction. Much of this evidence, however, is based on findings from cross-s...

🚨New Publication Alert for 2025🚨

We looked at longitudinal contact effects of Belfast youth and ethnic minorities. Higher-quality contact was linked to more positive attitudes while more frequent contact was linked to more self-reported prosocial behaviour.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

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1 year ago
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The Longitudinal Relationship Between Youth Intergroup Contact and Social Cohesion Outcomes in Two Divided Societies Intergroup contact has long been established as a prejudice-reduction tool in divided societies, with contact being particularly effective during adolescence. A large proportion of evidence, however,...

🚨New Publication🚨

We looked at intergroup contact longitudinally amongst youth in Belfast and Bradford. Our RI-CLPT analyses found between-person changes, but limited within-person changes. Our findings suggest we need more developmental-focused research.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

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1 year ago

b) tackling different forms of contact such extended contact, close friendships, and secondary transfer effects, and c) testing for longitudinal effects. We discuss these findings in light of other recent advancements within the larger framework of intergroup contact research.

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1 year ago

Finally, we investigated variations of our hypothesized path models in several intergroup contexts across 6 countries and 21 studies (total N = 12,859), a) looking at interethnic and interreligious contact among advantaged and disadvantaged groups...

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1 year ago

Secondly, we included both positive and negative forms of intergroup contact in the majority of the studies we report.
Thirdly, we introduced outgroup respect and understanding as novel emotional mediators of contact effects.

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1 year ago

In this paper, led by Berfin Acar, we expand the work on intergroup contact. First, we examined whether contact experiences also related to social change indicators beyond prejudice, namely, attitudes towards personal and general mixing.

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1 year ago
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R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to mixing: Testing novel emotional mediators of intergroup contact effects Although numerous studies have documented the robust effect of positive intergroup contact experiences in reducing prejudice and improving positive at…

🚨New Publication🚨

Intergroup contact does more than reduce prejudice. Positive outgroup experiences relate to positive pro-mixing attitudes, via increased levels of outgroup respect and outgroup understanding. We looked at inter/ethnoreligious contexts.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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1 year ago

Thanks for this. Can I request an add too?

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1 year ago
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Great feedback on my blitz talk on the Bradford study from our Shared Spaces project @bpsofficial.bsky.social Social Psych conference #AcademicSky

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2 years ago

Thrilled to say I'll be continuing work on the Shared Spaces Project with Prof Shelley McKeown Jones (@shelleymckeown.bsky.social) and Dr Daniel Schaefer at the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford.

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2 years ago
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I am delighted to say that I am joining the University of Bristol as Research Associate, working on the ESRC Shared Spaces project. Led by @shelleymckeown.bsky.social, this project looks at the how, when, and why of adolescent intergroup interactions (sharedspacesproject.co.uk). Exciting times!

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