Academy of Community Engagement Scholarship (ACES)

Niels Rygaard

Inducted in
2024

The Fairstart Foundation

Chief Executive Officer, Research and Program Design

Psychologist, authorized by the Danish Psychologist Association

Photo of Niels Rygaard

Biographical Abstracts

Danish-American child psychologist and researcher. Niels is the CEO and co-founder at the non-profit www.fairstartfoundation.com. Fairstart designs staff educations in how to train local groups of caregivers and parents of high-risk infants and children in attachment-based care. 820 partner staff in NGO and government agencies in 36 countries have been educated, and have trained the caregivers of 70.000 children. His books and papers focus on global psychology, implemented by low-cost large scale interventions, aiming to empower local professional care systems. Niels is the chief editor of the 2024 PCUN edition “Children Around the World - the Future of our Earth. He is an active member of the Danish and American Psychologist Associations, the European Federation of Psychologist Associations, the work group for migrant children at PCUN advising the United Nations, and the World Association of Infant Mental Health. As coined by professor emerita Christine Groark, Pittsburgh University: “Niels has connected all of us across continents, an exemplary illustration of how a psychologist contributes to a better world. His worldwide impact is phenomenal”. In 2020 he received the APA International Award for humanitarian work for underserved populations, and in 2023 the International Council of Psychologists Human Rights Award.

Areas of Expertise

  • Research in upscalings of mental health interventions
  • Intercultural professional mental health networks
  • Applications of attachment theory and research
  • Definitions of stress, trauma, resilience, and post-traumatic growth