Dr Tanja Gerlach is a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast. Tanja completed her PhD in 2013 at Humboldt University Berlin and as a fellow of the International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (IMPRS LIFE), where she worked on forgiveness, revenge and justice following transgressions in interpersonal relationships. Prior to joining QUB in April 2022, she was a Senior Researcher within the Biological Personality Psychology group at the University of Göttingen.

Tanja is a social‐personality psychologist whose research program cuts across the psychology of interpersonal relationships, personality psychology, and psychological assessment/psychometrics. She has worked on the effects of steroid hormones on motivation and behavior, in particular in the context of ovulatory cycle effects and hormonal contraception, as well as the conceptualization and measurement of narcissism as a personality trait and its consequences in interpersonal relationships. Employing prospective longitudinal designs and multi-national survey data, Tanja’s latest work has centered on ideal partner preferences and the role of these preferences for relationship development and wellbeing. She also has a keen interest in non-normative life and relationship concepts and is passionate about the dissemination of research designs for the study of close relationships.