The Lamia Sabbah Ali Ahmad National Psychology Research Day 2026

Resilience, Healing, and Human Growth

Date

Saturday, November 21, 2026

Welcome Message

Following the success of the inaugural Lamia Sabbah Ali Ahmad National Research Day last year, the Psychology Program at LAU is thrilled to announce its second edition on November 21, 2026, focusing on “Resilience, Healing, and Human Growth”.

Student research has taken the forefront at LAU and across various universities in Lebanon; however, no events so far have aimed at bringing together undergraduate and graduate students to share their experiences conducting research, and sharing their findings with peers in the field.

The Department of Psychology and Education at the Lebanese American University aims to innovate on this front, promoting visibility of the Psychology Program and LAU as a whole, on the undergraduate research scene. We hope to host students from various Lebanese psychology departments / programs (AUB, USJ, USEK, Haigazian, Balamand, NDU, and UL, among others) for this second National Research Day in Psychology, to share their research findings.

Undergraduate and graduate students will have to submit their abstract for review by the scientific committee to secure a spot for 1) an oral presentation, or 2) a poster presentation. The abstract should include the following sections: Background, Aim, Methods, Results and Conclusion. Published and unpublished studies will be accepted. Abstracts without results or ethics committee approval numbers will be automatically rejected.

The organizing committee will be formed by LAU faculty, but the scientific committee should be selected from different universities to decide on the selected proposals. We will also have a panel of speakers who will discuss the importance and challenges of trauma and resilience research in Lebanon, as well as a panel of student researchers sharing their challenges in conducting psychology research in our culture.

We hope this initiative will facilitate cross-university research collaborations amongst students and faculty, and we have the honor of hosting it in memory of LAU Psychology Alumna Ms. Lamia Sabbah Ali Ahmad, whose 1959 seminal thesis on child psychology proves to the importance of scientific research in our field. 

Tentative Program

8.30 Registration
9:00 – 9:15 Welcome speeches
9:15 – 10.00

Panel: Resilience, Healing, and Human Growth

(Moderator: Myriam El Khoury Malhame (LAU), trauma expert)

  • Dr. Charlotte Bou Khalil – Lebanese Order of Psychologists (LOPSY), head of the emergency intervention unit
  • Ms. Jinane Abi Ramia – Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), specialist in e-interventions in facing trauma in Lebanon
  • Mr. Jamil El Khoury, Research Officer & Ms. Roula Abi Saad, Child Protection Officer – UNICEF, experts in research in child/adolescent mental health interventions
10.00 – 10.20

Key learning and challenges of conducting Psychology research in Lebanon

(Moderator: Sahar Obeid (LAU), conference co-organizer)

  • Mr. Rudy Younes: winner of the 2025 conference
  • Mr. Toni Aramouny and Ms. Cynthia Aoun: scholars from the Undergraduate Research and Discovery (URaD) program at LAU
10.30 – 12.00

Parallel sessions

  • Oral presentation (4 presentation x 20 min each): Resilience and trauma research
  • Research Proposal Incubator: AI in Mental Health Care (Student Group Projects, Faculty-Mentored) 45-minute proposal development, followed by 45-minute discussion and feedback from the jury members based on the group members’ proposal pitch
12.00 - 13.00 Lunch
13.00 – 14.30

Parallel sessions

  • Oral presentation (4 presentation x 20 min each): Resilience and trauma research
  • Research Proposal Incubator: AI in Mental Health Care (Student Group Projects, Faculty-Mentored) 45-minute proposal development, followed by 45-minute discussion and feedback from the jury members based on the group members’ proposal pitch 
14.30 – 15.15

Coffee Break and Poster presentations

  • Committee meeting to evaluate the posters and oral presentations
15.30 – 16.00 Awards ceremony and Closing speech

At the end of the day, the jury will submit their votes on

-          Best oral presentation (monetary prize)

-          Best poster presentation (monetary prize)

-          Best proposal pitch (small seed fund for the winner to conduct their research study under the mentorship of LAU faculty, to be presented during next year’s conference 

Speakers

Coming soon

Registration

You can register your attendance here

Abstract submission

Submission Guidelines

AI and Mental Health Research Pitch Competition

CALL FOR RESEARCH PROPOSALS

Student Research Pitch Competition

AI and Mental Health: Opportunities, Challenges, and Human Wellbeing

Are you an undergraduate or graduate student with a research idea about AI and mental health?

The Lamia Sabbah Ali Ahmad Second National Psychology Research Day invites psychology students to submit a short research proposal for the opportunity to develop their idea into a real research project, with LAU faculty mentorship and financial support.

How does it work?

1. Submit your idea. Send us a short proposal describing your research question, rationale, and proposed methodology. You can apply individually; you do not need to have a team.

2. Get matched with a team. Proposals will be reviewed and matched with other students based on their research interests. Each group will then be paired with an LAU faculty mentor (from the Psychology and Education Department).

3. Develop & pitch your proposal. On Research Day, your group will work with your mentor to refine the research proposal and present it to a faculty jury.

4. Win research funding. The winning group will receive financial support to conduct the study, under the supervision of its LAU faculty mentor (from the Psychology and Education Department).

5. Present your findings. At the following Research Day (2027), the winning team will present the results of their research.

Who can participate? Undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines are welcome.

Submission deadline: October 26, 2026

Submit your proposal

Committees

Organizing Committee:

Scientific Committee: