Frau Dr. Yu-Mei Li

RESEARCH
I have a keen interest in topics including positive psychology, mental health, and well-being, as well as health-related topics more broadly and within-individual differences. In particular, I am interested in the hormonal influences on women’s mental and physical health and how the dynamics in family, work, or society affect people’s mental health.

EDUCATION
01/2015 – 03/2020 PhD in Psychology, The University of Edinburgh, UK
Project: Advancing our understanding of major depression and its assessment using experience sampling methodology
Primary supervisor: Professor René Mõttus; secondary supervisor: Professor Timothy C. Bates
Co-student representative of Psychology PhD students (2017-2018)
09/2011 – 08/2012 M.Sc. in the Psychology of Individual Differences, The University of Edinburgh, UK
Project: Affective forecasting under uncertainty
Supervisor: Professor Timothy C. Bates
09/2001 – 06/2005 B.Sc. in Life Science, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan

WORK EXPERIENCE
Since 06/2024 Postdoctoral researcher, AE20: Clinical child and adolescent psychology and psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Germany
Project:
ProChild: Preventing maltreatment and promoting mental health in children of mothers with borderline personality disorder
Sub-Project 3: Family climate and relationship quality in dyads of mothers with Borderline Personality Disorder and their infants
- Help with data collection
- Data analysis of cross-sectional, longitudinal, and voice data
06/2020 – 06/2024 Postdoctoral researcher, AE3: Developmental Psychology and Developmental Psychopathology, Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Germany
- Supervise Bachelor and Masters dissertations, manage research projects, and teach Bachelor and Master’s level seminars
- The seminars are:
• The diagnosis, classification, and development of mental disorders across the lifespan (Bachelors, 2020-2024)
• Project seminar (Master’s, 2020-2022)
• Health Psychology and Health Communication (Master’s, October 2021 - February 2022)
New perspectives and recent developments in the biological causes of mental disorders (Master’s, 2022-2023)
01-05/2019 Research Assistant, School of Philosophy, The University of Edinburgh, UK
Project: Student experiences in the University of Edinburgh
- Manage, prepare and execute the research project
01-03/2019 & 09/2015 – 08/2018 Tutor, Department of Psychology, the University of Edinburgh, UK
Teach tutorials and labs. Mark essays and tutorial and lab reports. Monitor the progress of student industry/charity projects. Advice on how to improve essay clarity and structure in one-on-one meetings.
• Psychology Outreach and Engagement (Bachelors, 2019)
• Critical Analysis (Bachelors, 2015-2018)
• School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences (PPLS) Writing Centre (Bachelors, 2017-2018)
• Psychology 2 (Bachelors, 2015-2017)
• Activity week (Bachelors, February and October 2017)
• Challenge week (Bachelors, October 2015)
05-12/2014 Research Assistant, Department of Special Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Project: Neural and behavioural correlates of auditory and psycholinguistic processing in children with reading difficulties in Chinese
- Produce experiment stimuli using LabVIEW, Audacity, and Praat
- Design, test, and conduct behavioural, EEG, fMRI, and MEG experiments, analyse data, and draft academic papers

GRANTS
2023 ERASMUS+ Mobility (€2,235): visited the National Institute for Health Development, Estonia and the Institute of Psychology of the University of Tartu, Estonia
2017 Presidents fund – Edinburgh Association of University Women (£1,000)

ADDITIONAL TRAINING
22-23/09/2023 Causal inferences with latent variables using EffectLiteR, Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University
08-09/09/2023 Generalized linear models, Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University
08/06/2023 Sample size planning for intensive longitudinal studies, Society for Ambulatory Assessment Conference 2023, Amsterdam
14/03/2023 Latent state-trait modelling with MPLUS, Advanced Techniques for Longitudinal Data Analysis in Social Science ATLASS 2023, Bielefeld
08 & 15/01/2023 Mental health & mindfulness: Creating supportive relationships of teaching and learning, Personnel Development Program for Researchers and Teachers (PEP), Bielefeld University
22-24/04/2021 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), Online
25-29/01/2021 Psychological Networks Amsterdam Winter School 2021, Online
20/02/2020 Realising the benefits of good research data management, Institute for Academic Development, University of Edinburgh

COMMUNICATION
Publications
Articles
Li, Y.-M., Konstabel, K., Mõttus, R., & Lemola, S. (2023). Corrigendum: Temporal associations between objectively measured physical activity and depressive symptoms: An experience sampling study. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14.
Calderón Alfaro, F. A., Li, Y. M., & Okely, J. (2023). Symptoms of depression and anxiety in young people in El Salvador: Associations with peer and family relationships, artistic activities and health behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of affective disorders, 339, 838–846. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.07.024
Hachenberger, J., Teuber, Z., Li, Y.-M., Abkai, L., Wild, E., & Lemola, S. (2023). Investigating associations between physical activity, stress experience, and affective wellbeing during an examination period using experience sampling and accelerometry. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 8808. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-35987-8
Carrillo-Balam, G., Li, Y.-M., & Silverman-Retana, O. (2023). Sex differences in the association between diabetes and depressive symptoms: Findings from Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey 2018–2019. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, jech-2022-219557. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2022-219557
Gillett, J. L., Karadag, P., Themelis, K., Li, Y.-M., Lemola, S., Balasubramanian, S., ... & Tang, N. K. (2023). Investigating mental defeat in individuals with chronic pain: Protocol for a longitudinal experience sampling study. BMJ open, 13(2), e066577.
Hachenberger, J., Li, Y.-M., Siniatchkin, M., Hermenau, K., Ludyga, S., & Lemola, S. (2023). Heart Rate Variability’s Association with Positive and Negative Affect in Daily Life: An Experience Sampling Study with Continuous Daytime Electrocardiography over Seven Days. Sensors, 23(2), 966.
Li, Y.-M., Hachenberger, J., & Lemola, S. (2022). The role of the context of physical activity for its association with affective well-being: An experience sampling study in young adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(17), Article 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710468
Hachenberger, J., Li, Y.-M., & Lemola, S. (2023). Physical activity, sleep and affective wellbeing on the following day: An experience sampling study. Journal of Sleep Research, 32(2), e13723. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13723
Li, Y.-M., Konstabel, K., Mõttus, R., & Lemola, S. (2022). Temporal associations between objectively measured physical activity and depressive symptoms: An experience sampling study. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.920580
Wang, H.-L. S., Rau, C.-L., Li, Y.-M., Chen, Y.-P., & Yu, R. (2015). Disrupted thalamic resting-state functional networks in schizophrenia. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 9, 45. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00045
Conference presentations
Li, Y.-M., Konstabel, K., Lemola, S., & Mõttus, R. (2021) Temporal associations between objectively measured physical activity and depressive symptoms: An experience sampling study. Society for Ambulatory Assessment Conference 2021. June 30 - July 2, 2020. Online.
Li, Y.-M., Hachenberger, J., & Lemola, S. (2023). The role of the context of physical activity for its association with affective well-being: An experience sampling study in young adults. Society for Ambulatory Assessment Conference 2023. June 5-7, 2023. Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Poster presentations
Li, Y.-M. & Mõttus, R. (2018) Relationships between major depression symptoms and circadian rhythm. The 26th Congress of the European Psychiatric Association. March 3-6, 2018. Nice, France.
Li, Y.-M. & Bates, T. C. (2015) Affective Forecasting Under Uncertainty: Do people know what’s good for them? The 6th Annual British Society for the Psychology of Individual Differences Conference. April 10, 2015. York, UK.
Talk
Mental health (in daily life), invited talk in Personality and Well-being Research Seminar, Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Estonia, Nov 6, 2023, Tartu, Estonia