Professor of Developmental Psychopathology and the Director of Centre for Applied Research and Assessment in Child and Adolescent Wellbeing (CARACAW) at the University of Roehampton, UK. Professor Essau was born and raised in the tropical jungle of Borneo Island. She received her early education in Sarawak, Malaysia and then went to Canada to further her studies. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree, her Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree and her Master of Arts degree from Lakehead University (Canada), her PhD from the University of Konstanz (Germany), and her “Habilitation” in Psychology (qualification for tenure-track professorships in Germany) from the University of Bremen (Germany).  She has held a number of academic positions in Canadian, Austrian, and German universities before joining the University of Roehampton in 2004. Professor Essau has Visiting Chairs at numerous European and Asian universities, including the Norman Munn Distinguished Visiting Scholar from Flinders University, Australia, and the Florey Medical Research Foundation Mental Health Visiting Professor from the University of Adelaide, Australia. In 2011, she was made Fellow of the British Psychological Society in recognition of her contribution to the field of Psychology. She is also Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and Borneo Research Council. With research grants from numerous national and international institutions, her research has focused on understanding the interacting factors that can lead children and adolescents have serious emotional and behavioural problems and using this research to (a) enhance the assessment of childhood and adolescent psychopathology and (b) design more effective interventions to prevent and treat such problems. She is the author of 220 articles, and is the author/editor of 19 books in the area of youth mental health. She has delivered 33 keynote addresses in major national and international conferences, and over 95 invited lectures/workshops in 43 countries.