Dr Soljana Cili

Biography

BIOGRAPHY
Dr Soljana Çili has a first class Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) from the University of Malta and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Southampton. She has taught at various universities in the UK, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Dr Çili teaches units related to personality and individual differences and group dynamics and processes in the course MSc Applied Psychology in Fashion. She establishes and manages collaborations between MSc students and internal or external partners as part of the Collaborative Challenge: Psychology unit. She is also a member of the Psychology Ethics Review Panel, as well as the College’s Research Committee, Research Degrees Sub-Committee, REF Working Group, and Academic Misconduct Panel. Dr Çili supervises MSc and PhD research projects which investigate fashion, the fashion industry, and fashion curation and exhibition from a psychological perspective. She has published her research in peer-reviewed psychology journals and presented it in national and international conferences. In addition, she is an ad hoc reviewer for several fashion and cognitive, social, and clinical psychology journals. Dr Çili is a Chartered Psychologist.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Relationship between autobiographical memory and the self; Narrative identity; Self-defining memories; Clothing and autobiographical memories; Impact of fashion and fashion industry practices on individuals’ sense of self and well-being; Trauma; Psychopathology; Intrusive mental imagery; Cognitive-behavioural therapy; Imagery rescripting

RESEARCH STATEMENT
Dr Çili’s research has three main aims:
1) Understand the way in which individuals’ sense of self is shaped by life experiences and environmental factors (e.g., adverse experiences, exposure to fashion and media images, working in the fashion industry);
2) Understand the way in which life experiences and environmental factors influence individuals’ psychological well-being and contribute to the onset of psychological disorders;
3) Understand mechanisms of change in cognitive-behavioural therapeutic interventions such as imagery rescripting.