Professor Cecilia Essau
Head of Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Professor Cecilia A. Essau is a distinguished expert in Developmental Psychopathology and serves as the Director of the Centre for Applied Research and Assessment in Child and Adolescent Wellbeing at the University of Roehampton, UK. She is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Adelaide, Australia, and a Scientific Advisor to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), where she contributes to developing and disseminating evidence-based training for adolescents with drug use disorders.
Born and raised in Borneo, Professor Essau’s academic journey began in Sarawak and led her to Canada, where she completed her BA (Hons) and MA in Clinical Psychology. She earned her PhD in Developmental and Cross-Cultural Psychology from the University of Konstanz, Germany, and achieved her Habilitation in Developmental Psychopathology from the University of Bremen, Germany. Notably, she is the first Iban woman to earn a PhD.
Professor Essau has held numerous academic positions in prestigious institutions across Canada, Austria, Germany, and the UK. She has been recognized with several distinguished visiting scholarships and professorships from universities worldwide, including Flinders University (Australia), De La Salle University (Philippines), and the University of Adelaide (Australia).
Her research is dedicated to understanding the factors that lead to serious emotional and behavioural problems in young people, with the goal of improving assessment and developing effective interventions. She has authored 265 articles and edited 22 books on youth mental health, focusing on anxiety disorders, adolescent depression, and evidence-based psychological interventions.
Professor Essau’s extensive contributions to psychology have earned her Fellowships with the British Psychological Society and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, highlighting her significant impact on the field.