BIO

Prof. Garima Rajan is Assistant Professor – Psychology at FLAME University. She is pursuing her Ph.D. in Psychology from IIT Delhi. She holds a Master’s Degree and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Delhi.

Prof. Garima has a total work experience of over six years as a Teaching Assistant and was associated with IIT, Delhi, and Mississippi State University, USA.

Her doctoral research work focussed on documenting several psychological, affective, and cognitive benefits of yoga and meditation using a mixed-method approach. Her research incorporated qualitative semi-structured interviews, psychological self-report assessments, cognitive tasks, and experimentation, along with the development of a smartphone application PsyEx for the purpose of data collection. She has examined executive functioning and emotion regulation in positive and negative symptom dimensions of schizophrenia for her Master’s thesis and self-conscious emotions and emotion regulation in depression and bipolar affective disorder for her Undergraduate Honours thesis. She has published and presented her research work in national and international journals and numerous conferences of repute. Along with her robust research aptitude, she has also demonstrated a strong scholastic orientation during her formal academic training in psychology. She was a college topper in psychology and secured the second position in the University of Delhi.

In her spare time, she enjoys singing, reading, and travelling.

Conference Research Paper and Poster Presentations:

• Rajan G. & Singh K. (2021, July). Understanding Psychological Benefits of Meditation and Associated Positive Spiritual Practices. Research paper presented at The 32nd International Congress of Psychology (ICP 2020+) Prague, Czech Republic from 18-23 July, 2021.


• Rajan G. & Singh K. (2021, July). Improvements in Flourishing and Emotion Regulation among College Students Following a Week of Classroom-Based Yoga and Meditation Workshop on ‘Inner Clarity’. Research poster presented at the 7th International Positive Psychology Association World Congress 2021 (IPPA WC 2021) from July 15 – 17, 2021.


• Rajan G. & Singh K. (2021, March). Differences in Inhibitory Control, Selective Attention and Cognitive Flexibility among Novice Meditators, Advanced Meditators and Non-Meditators. Research paper presented at the 30th Convention of National Academy of Psychology (NAOP) 2020-2021 organized by Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur from March 19-21, 2021.


• Rajan G. & Singh K. (2021, February). Changes in the Use of Emotion Regulation Strategies of Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression after an Advanced Yoga and Meditation Program. Research paper presented at the 56th National & 25th International Conference of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (IAAP) organized by Department of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab, India, from 18th to 20th February 2021.


• Rajan G. & Singh K. (2021, January). Examining the Cognitive Benefits in Selective Attention, Response Inhibition, Cognitive Flexibility and Emotion Regulation Strategies via a Smartphone App Among Participants From an Online Advanced Yoga and Meditation Program. Research poster presented at the 7th Annual Conference of Cognitive Science (ACCS) from 23rd-25th January, 2021.


• Rajan G. & Singh K. (2019, December). Psychological Benefits of Short-Term Workshop on Yoga, Heartfulness Meditation and Positive Practices in College Students. Research paper presented in 29th Annual Convention of National Academy of Psychology (NAOP), India & International Conference on “Making Psychology Deliverable to the Society” organized by Department of Applied Psychology, Pondicherry University, India, 20th -22nd December, 2019.


• Rajan G. & Singh K. (2019, February). Effectiveness of a Course on 'Science of Happiness': A Classroom Study in College Students. Research paper presented in 54th National & 23rd International Conference of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (IAAP) organized by Department of Psychology, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India, 14th -16th February, 2019.


• Singh, V. and Rajan, G. (2017, October). Do emotions make memories specific?  It depends! Research poster presented at the 4th International Annual Cognitive Science Conference (ACCS) at University of Hyderabad, India, 5th -7th October, 2017.


• Rajan, G. and Khosla, M. (2014, January). Examining Self-Conscious Emotions and Emotion Regulation in Depression and Bipolar Affective Disorder: Implications for Emotional Well-Being. Research paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Cognition and Health (ICCH) held from January 23-25, 2014 in the Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.


• Rajan, G. and Gupta, A. (2014, December). Executive Functioning and Emotion Regulation: A Comparative Analysis of Positive and Negative Symptom Dimensions in Schizophrenia. Research poster presented at the International Conference of Public Mental Health and Neurosciences (ICPMN-2014), Bangalore, India.


• Rajan, G. and Khosla, M. (2014, December). Understanding Self-Conscious Emotions and Emotion Regulation in Depression and Bipolar Affective Disorder. Research poster presented at the International Conference of Public Mental Health and Neurosciences (ICPMN-2014), Bangalore, India.
  

Research Paper Publications:

• Rajan, G. and Khosla, M. (2015). Exploring Self-Conscious Emotions and Emotion Regulation in Depression and Bipolar Affective Disorder: Implications for Therapeutic Interventions. International Journal of Public Mental Health and Neurosciences, 2(2), 34-47.


• Rajan, G. and Singh, K. (Manuscript Under Preparation). How Effective are Classroom-Based Yoga and Meditation Workshops and Courses for College Students? An Insight from Three Studies on Psychological Benefits of Yoga-Meditation Based Workshops and Courses.


• Rajan, G. and Singh, K. (Manuscript Under Preparation). Differences in Executive Functioning and Use of Emotion Regulation Strategies among Novice, Advanced and Non-Practitioners of Yoga and Meditation.