The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Starting Grants this year to an AICE researcher Milica Nikolic for her project EMODEV: The emergence of distinct emotions in human development. The Starting Grant is a personal grant of approximately €1.5 million. It provides talented researchers with five years of support for their research.

In her project, Milica will study the emergence of twelve distinct emotions: interest, excitement, awe, feeling moved, schadenfreude, elevation, confusion, worry, disappointment, envy, resentment, and indignation in babies and young children. She will investigate when these emotions first appear, how they are expressed in the face and body, what kinds of behaviours they drive, and how they are shaped by family, culture, and biological maturation. This is important because we know that early life is a period critically influencing long-term mental and physical health outcomes.

By combining different approaches – from qualitative methods and natural observation to experimental, longitudinal, and cross-cultural studies – Nikolic will provide the first systematic investigation of the emergence of a wide range of emotions in early development. This will revolutionize our understanding of the nature of emotions and the motivations behind young children’s behaviours.

Congratulations MIlica!