Jessica Oliva

Dr Jessica Oliva is a Senior Lecturer and Primary advisor within the Department of Psychology at James Cook University based at the Townsville campus. Her research interests include social cognition, empathy, attachment, and the neuropeptide, oxytocin. Her PhD research investigated the role of the neuropeptide, oxytocin, in human-dog bonding and communication, and she completed a Post-Doctoral fellowship at the Institute of Research in Semio-chemistry and Applied Ethology in France, investigating the involvement of oxytocin in pheromone action in dogs. She has also worked as a Post-Doctoral researcher at the Parent-Infant Research Institute in Melbourne where she was involved in federal government funded projects to treat perinatal ill mental health. Before arriving to JCU, Dr Oliva worked as a Lecturer in Psychology at Monash University in Melbourne, and research supervisor at the Institute of Social Neuroscience. Dr Oliva has published extensively in the areas of neuropharmacology, social cognition, and human attitudes, and her work has been presented at conferences both nationally and internationally. She has been an invited editor and peer-reviewer for several international journals. Within the Clinical Psychedelic Research Lab Dr Oliva is interested in the neuropharamological mode of action of psychedelics, as well as attitudes and perception towards the use of psychedelic drugs and individuals’ personal experiences consuming them.