Mark Nielsen

Mark Nielsen serves as Professor in the School of Psychology at The University of Queensland, where he has established himself as a prominent researcher in developmental psychology since joining as a UQ Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2002. After completing his PhD at La Trobe University, he has made significant contributions to understanding socio-cognitive development in both human children and non-human primates. His groundbreaking research on cultural learning, particularly focusing on imitation and innovation, has earned him numerous accolades including an Early Career Researcher Award from the International Society on Infant Studies and fellowship in the Association for Psychological Science. As a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg and Associate Editor for the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology and PLoS ONE, his influence extends internationally. His research has particularly illuminated how children learn through imitation, demonstrating crucial differences between human and non-human primate learning patterns, especially in what has become known as "overimitation" - the human tendency to copy even causally irrelevant actions. Beyond his academic contributions, which include over 100 published papers, Nielsen maintains editorial roles with prestigious journals including Child Development and Developmental Science, while actively supervising doctoral students in areas ranging from social learning to cultural cognition.