Dr. Damian Scarf is an Associate Professor at the University of Otago Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka. He leads the Adolescent Behaviour and Child Development Lab. Dr Scarf originally studied Zoology, before gaining his PhD in Psychology from the University of Otago in 2011. During his PhD, he went to Columbia University as a Visiting Researcher on a Fulbright scholarship. He has won several research awards including the American Psychological Association Clever Systems Early Career Award and the New Zealand Psychological Society Goddard Early Career Award. Dr. Scarf’s projects draw on multiple theories but with a focus on social identity theory, which postulates that people often define their sense of self in terms of their groups. This sense of a connected self gives us a sense of belonging, purpose and meaning.