Vocational and Leisure Interests

Focus: How interests evolve across lifespan and domains (work, leisure, calling).

Example topics:

• Vocational interests development longitudinally

• Leisure interests and their intersections with work interests

• Multiple callings and sources of meaningful work

• Identity, motivation, and interest trajectories across career stages

Key methods: Scale development, Automated Video Interviews, latent profile analysis, longitudinal modeling

Lifespan Adaptation & Career Development

Focus: How people switch between roles, careers, and identities across life transitions.

Example topics:

• Career breaks and reentry pathways

• Aging workforce adaptation and renewal

• Work-life transitions and identity shifts

• Hybrid and flexible work adaptation

• Psychological resilience and meaning reconstruction after career disruptions

Key methods: AI-based narrative analysis, mixed methods, longitudinal

Advanced Assessments and Measurement

Focus: Developing and validating new ways to measure and assess key individual differences using behavioral data and advanced technology.

Example topics:

• Automated video interviews (verbal, paraverbal, and nonverbal ML models

• Social media language as behavioral data for interest/meaning measurement

• Measurement equivalence across languages, cultures, and platforms

• Integrating psychometric validity with ML interpretability

Key methods: Machine learning (multimodal, NLP), psychometrics, eye-tracking

Future of Work and Technology

Focus: How AI, automation, and digitalization are transforming work and careers.

Example topics:

• Technological change and perceptions of meaningful work

• Future of work attitudes (AI adoption, automation anxiety, reskilling)

• How technology alters interest development and vocational identity

• Cross-generational adaptation to digital transformation

Key methods: Survey, NLP, longitudinal, and experimental designs