Vaillancourt's research has reshaped scientific and societal understanding of how peer victimization affects children's and adolescents' psychological and neurobiological development across the lifespan.
As a full professor in the Faculty of Education and the Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Youth Mental Health and Violence Prevention, her work informs public policy and evidence-based strategies across multiple sectors to prevent violence and promote healthy development.
She is the founder of the Brain and Behaviour Lab at the University of Ottawa and a co-lead of the Health and Peer Relations Study (HPRS), an initiative funded by the Brain-Heart Interconnectome research program. In 2021, she was elected a Fellow by the Royal Society of Canada and has also served as past president of the International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA).
