Prof Dana McDevitt-Shai

Research psychologist, early years and parenting specialist

Dana Shai, Ph.D., psychologist, is an associate professor and faculty member at the Academic College Tel Aviv Yaffo, Israel, and the director of the Study of Early Emotional Development (SEED) Center and Lab. Dr Shai leads extensive longitudinal research projects that investigate parenting and the child’s early social, emotional and cognitive development. Dr Shai developed the Parental Embodied Mentalizing (PEM) coding system and assessment and has been leading world-wide collaborative research and delivers international talks and training programs on PEM for the last decade.

Dr Shai provides expert advice on approaching early years teaching and helps teachers and parents understand the developmental processes driving children’s learning.

Dr Shai completed her PhD in Psychology at the University of London under the supervision of Profs. Jay Belsky and Peter Fonagy, and has a background in psychoanalytic developmental psychology, Dance Movement Therapy, and Philosophy.