Dongning Ren awarded ERC grant for her research proposal on ostracism.
FPN colleague Dr. Dongning Ren was awarded a highly competitive ERC grant for her project: Using a principled causal approach for causal queries: the Ostracism Causal Project.
Academic journey
Dr. Ren started her academic career in the USA, earning a PhD in social psychology from Purdue University. She then joined Tilburg University as an Assistant Professor, where she received tenure. Eager to broaden her research horizons, she spent time at Emory University in Atlanta, where she connected with scholars across disciplines such as epidemiology, political science, economics, and sociology. “It was at Emory I became deeply drawn to causal inference methods, which are widely used outside psychological science” she explains. “I saw the opportunity to incorporate these approaches into my own research”.
A new home at Maastricht University
Looking for the right environment to pursue her next research steps, Ren joined Maastricht University’s Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience. “I have been blessed with colleagues who are welcoming, brilliant, and open-minded,” she says. Here, she continued to pursue a long-term passion: understanding social connection and disconnection, with a special focus on being ignored or overlooked.
This phenomenon, known as ostracism, is subtle yet powerful. Unlike outright rejection, ostracism is marked by a lack of recognition or response. “It is a difficult topic to research,” Ren notes. “Many people who experience it don’t speak up, because they feel there is nothing concrete to report.”
Studying ostracism in the real world
Until now, most ostracism studies have relied on laboratory experiments for causality, where participants are placed in artificial situations of exclusion. While valuable, these studies fail to capture the lived reality of long-term ostracism.
“With this ERC project, I aim to bring ostracism research into the field,” Ren explains. By applying the causal inference framework, she will use real-world data to answer causal questions without depending solely on experiments. This approach, already well-established in fields beyond psychology, will allow her to uncover the far-reaching consequences of ostracism for people’s behaviour, wellbeing, and health.
Ren emphasises that securing the grant was a team effort. She extends her gratitude to her collaborators and colleagues, in particular Marcel Giezen and Kai Jonas for their strong support and guidance.
Over the next five years, the ERC funding will enable Ren to establish and carry out this ambitious research programme. We’re looking forward to the insights her work will bring on one of the most fundamental aspects of human social life: the need to be seen and acknowledged.
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