This project advances psychological assessment practice in South Africa through sustained scholarly leadership and international advocacy. The project promotes ethically sound, contextually valid, and globally aligned assessment practices that respond to the needs of diverse and historically underrepresented populations. Impact is achieved through influential scholarly outputs, including two foundational assessment texts for South Africa as well as International Histories of Psychological Assessment which brought together experts from across the globe and was published in conjunction with the International Test Commission.
Within this project, Prof Laher established the African Journal of Psychological Assessment (AJOPA) and was instrumental in leading the formation of Assessment Standards South Africa (ASSA) where she still serves in a voluntary capacity as Director. The project is further strengthened by strategic leadership at the policy–practice interface through the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA), where Professor Laher chairs the Assessment Standing Committee. Collectively, these efforts contribute to shaping assessment standards, policy, and professional practice in ways that are locally responsive and globally relevant.
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Recent Publications
- Laher, S. & Cockcroft, K. (2026). Psychological Assessment In South Africa: Future Trajectories. In S.Laher & K. Cockcroft (eds.). Advances in Psychological Assessment in South Africa. Wits University Press.
- Laher, S., De Beer, M., Maree, D., & Bischof, D. (2025). Ensuring ethical test use in South Africa: The role of Assessment Standards South Africa. African Journal of Psychological Assessment, 7, 5 pages. doi:https://doi.org/10.4102/ajopa.v7i0.167
- Laher, S. (2024). Advancing an agenda for psychological assessment in South Africa. South African Journal of Psychology, 54 (4), 515-530. doi:10.1177/00812463241268528
- Laher, S., Gan, Y., Geisinger, K., Iliescu, D., Macqueen, P., Zeinoun, P. (2022). Histories of psychological assessment: An Introduction. In Laher, S. (Ed.), International histories of psychological assessment. Cambridge University Press.
- Laher, S., Serpell, R., Ntinda, K. & Chireshe, R. (2022). Psychological assessment in Southern Africa. In Laher, S. (Ed.), International histories of psychological assessment. Cambridge University Press.
- Laher, S. (2022). Looking back, moving forward: Assessment futures in the global village. In Laher, S. (Ed.), International histories of psychological assessment.Cambridge University Press.
- Cockcroft, K. & Laher, S. (2022). Culturally Responsive Neuropsychological Assessment for South Africa’s Rainbow Nation: A Case Study. In Irani, F. (Ed.) A Handbook of Cultural Diversity in Neuropsychological Assessment: Developing Understanding through Global Case Studies. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group
- Laher, S. & Cockcroft, K. (2017). Moving from Culturally Biased to Culturally Responsive Assessment Practices in Low Resource, Multicultural Settings. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 48, 115- 121.
Principal Investigator
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