Boya Li research focuses on promoting social inclusion and equality for children with autism and other neurological conditions. She is an assistant professor at the unit of Developmental Psychology at the Institute of Psychology.

More information about Boya Li

News

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  21 March 2023 Fact or fiction: people with autism are not social
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  31 May 2022 Video series: Collaboration with China in daily practice
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  10 November 2021 Autistic children develop social-emotional skills with other children
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  04 April 2020 Are autistic youngsters less prosocial?
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  17 December 2015 New impulse for autism research in collaboration with China

PhD's

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  Zijian Li PhD Candidate
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  Shannon Yuen PhD student

Leiden Psychology Blog

Boya Li research focuses on promoting social inclusion and equality for children with autism and other neurological conditions. She is an assistant professor at the unit of Developmental Psychology at the Institute of Psychology.

Research in youth development and social inclusion

Li’s research focuses on cultivating inclusive educational environments through innovative approaches, aimed at providing equitable learning opportunities for all youths, regardless of their physical, neurodevelopmental, social, and cultural backgrounds. In her investigation of the developmental courses of social and emotional competence in autistic children and deaf and hard-of-hearing children, Li adopts a synergistic approach, exploring the interplay between various factors affecting youth development, including the neurodevelopmental conditions of youths and environmental factors such as family dynamics and school contexts.

Li has secured multiple grants for conducting collaborative research with international and interdisciplinary partners. Her recent NWO grant has facilitated the expansion of her research scope from children to young adults. In this endeavor, she collaborates closely with researchers from the Faculty of Human-Centered Design at Delft University of Technology, alongside a multidisciplinary consortium of experts in sociology, medicine, pedagogy, and governance from five Dutch universities. Together, they aim to explore strategies for fostering inclusivity within Dutch higher education.

Research projects

• From September 2023: Researcher in “JEDI Now! Developing a Co-Creative Knowledge Platform and Methods to Achieve Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) in Higher Education for Dutch with a Migrant Background”, position affiliated to the Department of Human-Centered Design, TU Delft, in collaboration with Amsterdam UMC, VU, Radboud UMC, and Leiden University (Governance). Funded by NWO.
• 2021 – 2023: postdoc researcher in “Breaking The Cycle: An Inclusive School Environment Outside The Classroom For Adolescents With ASD”, Leiden University.
• 2016 – present: coordinator of the China-Netherlands collaborative research projects (1) “Emotion Control In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder” with dr. Li Yi, Peking University, and (2) “A Longitudinal Research on the Socioemotional Development of Chinese DHH Preschoolers” with the China Rehabilitation and Research Center for Hearing and Speech Impairments and prof. Yifang Wang, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China, Leiden University.

Teaching

Li is also an enthusiastic teacher, devoted to passing on the state-of-the-art knowledge to the younger generation. Li has rich experience in teaching courses in Child and Adolescent Psychology at different levels. Li is also co-supervising PhD candidates in the Focus of Emotions research lab. 

She's been involved in the following courses: 

• Academic Skills Tutorial (1^st-year BA)
• Perspective on Career Planning (2^nd-year BA)
• Developmental and Educational Psychology (1^st-year BA)
• Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology (3^rd-year BA specialization course) (coordinator)
• Research MA, professional MA, and BA thesis supervision
• Research MA, professional MA, and BA internship supervision
• (A)typical Emotional Development (Research MA)
• Pre-University programs

Short CV

Li obtained her first PhD in 2006 in linguistics from the Leiden University Center for Linguistics. While doing research on the theory of Generative Grammar, she became fascinated by the maturation of language and child development in general, which motivated her to pursue a career in developmental psychology.

In 2021, Li obtained her second PhD from Leiden University in developmental psychology, where she conducted a series of longitudinal studies, following the socioemotional development of autistic preschoolers. Her research was among the first to show that autistic children have a good potential to develop emotional skills, highlighting the importance of providing these children with a nurturing learning environment.

Grants

• 2023, “JEDI Now! Developing a co-creative knowledge platform and methods to achieve justice equity diversity and inclusion (JEDI) in higher education for Dutch with a migrant background”, funded by the NWO “Advancing Equity in Academia through Innovation” Grant, co-applicant (€325.000)
• 2023, “Smart Play: A smartwatch software for measuring play with a data-driven, interdisciplinary approach”, funded by the Netherlands eScience Center, co-applicant (1150 hours of Research Software Engineer support).
• 2022, “Exploring the school belongingness of Chinese autistic pre-adolescents and their mainstream school recess experience”, funded by the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) grant for a three-year PhD project, awarded to Kexin Liu, co-supervisor of the grant application.
• 2020, “The Development of social-emotional functioning in Dutch and Chinese preschool children with autism spectrum disorder: A longitudinal study”, funded by the CSC grant for a four-year PhD project, awarded to Jiayin Zhao, co-supervisor of the grant application and of the PhD project.
• 2019, “The Development of Social-Emotional Functioning in Chinese Preschool Children with A Cochlear Implant: A Longitudinal Study”, funded by the CSC grant for a four-year PhD project, awarded to Qi Meng, co-supervisor of the grant application and of the PhD project.
• 2016, “Emotion processing in deaf children with cochlear implants”, funded by the Taiwanese government grant for a three-year PhD project, awarded to Yung-Ting Tsou, co-supervisor of the funding application and of the PhD project.
• 2016, “Facing others; Emotion control in children with autism spectrum disorder”, funded by KNAW “China Exchange Programma”, co-applicant (€29.806)

Prices

• 2023, Poster prize second place, National Autism Congress (NAC), co-author
• 2022, Poster prize nomination, Female Autism Network of the Netherlands (FANN), first author

Memberships

• International Society for Autism Research
• National Autism Congress, evaluation committee, the Netherlands
• China Region Group, Leiden University, the Netherlands
• China Knowledge Network, Clingendael Institute, the Netherlands

Co-supervised PhD candidates

• 2020-present, Zhao, J. The development of social-emotional functioning in Dutch and Chinese preschool children with autism spectrum disorder: A longitudinal study.
• 2019-present. Yuen, S. The impact of family dynamics on emotional competence in dear or hard of hearing preschool children.
• 2019-present, Li, Z. Social emotions in young deaf and hard of hearing Chinese (& Dutch) children.
• 2016-2020, Tsou, Y.-T. Navigating the world of emotions : social information processing in children with and without hearing loss. Dissertation defended on 11 November 2020, Leiden University.
• 2013-2019, Dahamat Azam, N. Aggression and emotions : Cultural and individual differences. Dissertation defended on 18 December 2019, Leiden University.