People
Director
Joseph Bulbulia
Director, OTTO Lab: 📧 joseph.bulbulia@vuw.ac.nz
🔗 University Profile Full CV
About
OTTO Lab is based in the School of Psychological Sciences at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington.
Joseph Bulbulia (Joe) teaches and researches in the School of Psychological Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington. His research investigates the causes of human cooperation, conflict, and well-being, with a focus on the role of religion and values. Joseph specialises in methods for causal inference from observational data. He also directs the Centre for Applied Cross-Cultural Research (CACR).
Research Projects Joe contributes to two major research projects:
New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS): Joe serves as a principal investigator on major NZAVS projects. He uses 15 years of repeated-measures longitudinal data from more than 76,000 New Zealanders to investigate religion, social cohesion, and trust.
Pulotu Database of Pacific Religions: As a founding co-investigator, Joe uses this database of 116 Austronesian cultures to evaluate theories about the evolution of religious beliefs and their effects on social behaviour.
Supervision
Joe supervises students in a broad range of areas, including:
- Personality and individual differences
- Political psychology
- Well-being/Flourishing
- Religion (his primary interest)
Methods used in the lab
The project descriptions below name several causal methods. Heterogeneous treatment effects are differences in average causal effects across groups. Causal machine learning uses flexible statistical models to estimate causal quantities under the study’s assumptions. Target trial emulation organises an observational study around a specified hypothetical randomised trial. Longitudinal modified treatment policies specify how to change the exposure a person would otherwise receive at each intervention occasion, potentially using their measured history. Examples include increasing or decreasing work hours.
PhD Students
Jessie Auckram
Jessie is investigating individual differences in personal resilience related to deprivation.
- Project: New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)
- Methods: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects; Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies; Causal Machine Learning
Jake Ireland
Jake graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Mathematics from Victoria University of Wellington in 2020. During his studies, he contributed to research on cross-cultural psychology, drug abuse, and face perception. Since graduating, he has worked in cyber security and, since 2022, has been researching cultural evolution with the Causal Lab at Victoria University. He completed his Honours in 2024 and began his PhD in 2025. Jake is investigating the co-evolution of religious and political culture in the Pacific.
- Project: Pulotu
- Methods: Causal Machine Learning
- ORCID Profile
Mohammad Islam
Mohammad is estimating the causal effects of Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation on a range of prejudice outcomes. He joins the lab from Bangladesh.
- Project: New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)
- Methods: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects; Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies; Causal Machine Learning
Mekonnen Tsehay
Mekonnen is estimating the causal effects of religious ritual behaviours on health and wellbeing among religiously identified people in New Zealand. He joins the lab from Ethiopia.
- Project: New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)
- Methods: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects; Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies; Causal Machine Learning
Master’s Students
Hannah Robinson
Hannah is researching the causal effects of religious service attendance on personality.
- Project: New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)
- Methods: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects; Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies; Causal Machine Learning
Purti Pristine
Purti is estimating the long-term causal effects of belief in God and belief in a spirit or life force on multidimensional well-being, asking whether joint belief yields synergistic benefits. She joins the lab from Indonesia.
- Project: New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)
- Methods: Target Trial Emulation; Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies; Causal Machine Learning
Honours Students
Christina Cartwright
Christina is estimating heterogeneous effects of volunteering: how its effects on different aspects of well-being vary across groups. She uses causal forests and policy trees. Originally from Austria, she brings extensive experience in government to the lab.
- Project: New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)
- Methods: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects; Causal Machine Learning
Alumni
Millie Rea
Millie worked with OTTO Lab as a research assistant, investigating extensions of lab workflows to policy settings with data from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI).
- Methods: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects; Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies; Causal Machine Learning
Boyang Cao
Boyang completed his Honours research with the lab, investigating the causal effects of prejudice on personality.
- Project: New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)
- Methods: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects; Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies; Causal Machine Learning
Zahle Stewart
Zahle received her Master of Science from Victoria University of Wellington in June 2026. Her thesis estimated the causal effects of perceived employer gratitude on multidimensional well-being. She presented her findings at the 2025 Society of Australasian Social Psychologists conference in Melbourne. Congratulations, Zahle!
- Project: New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)
- Methods: Heterogeneous Treatment Effects; Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies; Causal Machine Learning
Dr. Inkuk Kim
Dr. Inkuk Kim worked with OTTO Lab as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research and the School of Psychological Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington. He has moved to take up a postdoctoral fellowship at the HAPPI Lab at Georgia State University (GSU), working with Don E. Davis. Inkuk remains a Fellow of OTTO Lab and is working on projects related to environmental psychology, trust in science, and character formation over the adult lifespan.
- Project: New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)
- Methods: Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies; Causal Machine Learning
- ORCID Profile
- University Profile
- GitHub
Dr. John Mark Kempthorne
John Mark received his PhD from the School of Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington in 2025. His dissertation investigated the application of causal methods to time-series data from the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study. He is working as a postdoctoral fellow at the Shaver Lab.
Bella Chong
Bella received her Master’s degree from Victoria University of Wellington in 2023. Her research investigated the causal effects of work hours on multidimensional well-being.
- Project: New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study (NZAVS)
- Methods: Longitudinal Modified Treatment Policies
- ORCID Profile
Join the lab
If you’re interested in joining the lab, please contact:
📧 joseph.bulbulia@vuw.ac.nz