UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE - Key Persons
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- Analyst at Costello Medical, Cambridge, UK
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- Senior Lecturer, Uni of St Andrews, UK
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- City Strategic Partnerships Lead, British Petroleum, UK
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- University Lecturer, Uni of Cambridge, UK
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- VP of Product, YouGov Signal, Israel
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- Librarian
- Job Titles Research Associate
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- Research Assistant With the Centre for Neuroscience
Annabel Macfarlane has been a Research Assistant with the Centre for Neuroscience in Education since 2019. She is currently working for the Botnar project.
Biography
Annabel earned her BSc in Psychology at the University of Plymouth, where she specialised in Neuroscience. Her final research project (supervised by Professor Stephen Hall, School of Psychology, University of Plymouth) investigated changes to brain rhythms and visuomotor control as the result of atmospheric pressure, and was done in collaboration with the healthcare company DDRC Plymouth.
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- IT Specialist / Adaptive Brain Lab
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- Wildlife Scientist / Science Communicator
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- Data Scientist, AutoScout24, Germany
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- Lecturer, School of Psychology, University of Cardiff
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- Senior Research Info Manager, Cancer Research, UK
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- Research Administrator, Uni of Cambridge, UK
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- Job Titles Assistant Professor
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- Job Titles Research Assistant
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- Job Titles Electronics Workshop Technician
- Project Coordinator / Cambridge Social Decision - Making Lab
I am a fine-art painter and a writer, and a Member of the Magician's Circle (MMC). I have exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal Academy and in private galleries in Cork Street, London - including a one-man show in 2007. Wilkins has produced portraits of Sir Howard Hodgkin and Sir Peter Blake among others and has been presented publicly to HRH Princess Royal. Wilkins' writing and paintings have been in print on numerous occasions, most notably in his published work 'The Creatures in the Night', a story written and lavishly illustrated by Wilkins in 2008. 'The Moustachio Quartet', a series of four novels 'Caruso Maelstrom', 'Count Zapik', 'Xavier Mannikin' and 'Eissenstrom' explore mental time travel and question consciousness. As a performer and magician I am particularly interested in the nature of cognitive illusion and the psychology of perception. Together with Nicky Clayton, I am co-founder of The Captured Thought, and an Honourary Director of Studies and Advisor for China-UK Development Centre.
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- Job Titles Assistant Professor
- Senior Building Services Coordinator
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- Student, and Lab Manager )
David studied Psychology at UCL where he was awarded the Plotkin Prize for the best undergraduate Psychology dissertation. His undergraduate project was in the domain of judgment biases, and tested competing theoretical predictions about the causes and boundary conditions of the well-known 'anchoring' effect. His MPhil research explored individual differences, and country level differences in the extent of ‘policy aligned' voting decisions. His PhD explores computational modeling of the priors and beleifs that shape political polarization.
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- Postgraduate Administrator
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- Job Titles Head of Department
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- Associate Professor, Uni of Exeter, UK
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- Postdoctoral Research Associate
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- Job Titles Project Coordinator
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- Job Titles Research Associate
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- Job Titles Research Assistant
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- Job Titles Research Assistant
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- Postdoctoral Research Associate
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- Experimental Psychologist
Lee originally trained as an experimental psychologist / cognitive neuroscientist but now applies psychology to understand political decision making. In addition to directing the Political Psychology Lab, Lee is also the Director of the Psychology and Behavioural Sciences (PBS) BSc program, and is the Director of Studies for PBS at Trinity Hall.
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- Development Project Manager, Cambridge University Health Partners
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- BabyPaL Principal Investigator
BabyPaL Principal Investigator, Dr Rebecca Lawson is a selected performer for the Wellcome Leap, $45M 1kD program!
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- Member of the Centre for Family Research
- Research Associate With the Centre for Neuroscience
Anji completed her PhD in Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge. She was awarded an MSc in Human Biology by the University of Oxford, and a BSc in Pathobiology (with Chemistry) from the University of Reading. Before joining the University of Cambridge she worked with the Cancer Research Campaign Epidemiology Group, Oxford, and also taught at what is now Oxford Brookes University.
When Anji first began working at the University of Cambridge in 1989, it was as a member of the Winnicott Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry. While there Anji was involved in research on the effectiveness of support offered to first-time mothers and the impact of postnatal depression on child development. In conjunction with the Cambridge Mediation Service, Anji has gone on to lead research into the effectiveness of child counselling and training services in local schools. These projects have been funded by organisations including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Sir Halley Stewart Trust.
In 2000 Anji became a member of the Centre for Family Research, Department of Psychology, where she worked as a research associate on studies of kinship, peer interactions, and predictors of success in the transition to school. She has also worked with The Psychometrics Centre on the third edition of the British Ability Scales (BAS3).
Dr. Anji Wilson (nee West) has been a Research Associate with the Centre for Neuroscience in Education since 2011. She is currently working for the Botnar project, having previously worked upon the Rhythmic Perception, Music and Language, Educational Neuroscience and Developmental Dyslexia, and the GraphoGame Rime projects.
Cumming, R., Wilson, A., & Goswami, U. (2015). Basic auditory processing and sensitivity to prosodic structure in children with specific language impairments: A new look at a perceptual hypothesis. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 972. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00972
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- Research Assistant for the Centre for Neuroscience
Dr. Christina Grey has been a Research Assistant for the Centre for Neuroscience in Education since she joined in 2019. She is currently working on the BabyRhythm project.
Biography
Christina completed her PhD in Linguistics at the University of Cambridge and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. At Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin she earned her MA in Linguistics, with a specialisation in Psycholinguistics. She also has a MSc in American Literature from the University of Edinburgh], and a BA in English Language and Literature from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Before joining the Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Christina worked on several research projects which used behavioural methods to tap into the cognitive processes of bilingual language acquisition and its cognitive advantages. Her work has led her to collaborate with schools and language specialists in England, Germany, and Greece.
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- Certified BabyBrains Trainer
- Research Associate at King 's College
- Research Associate for the Centre for Neuroscience
Dr. Sinead Rocha has been working as a Research Associate for the Centre for Neuroscience in Education since January 2018. She is currently working on the BabyRhythm project.
Biography
Sinead completed her PhD at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London. Her thesis examined the development of rhythm perception and production skills in human infants, with a focus on the role of the vestibular system and how the experience of being carried by the caregiver impacts infants' early rhythmic tendencies. Sinead uses motion capture, electromyography (EMG), electroencephalography (EEG) and acoustic analyses to answer these questions.
Sinead is currently a postdoctoral research associate at King's College, University of Cambridge.
Rocha, S., & Mareschal, D. (2016). Getting into the Groove: The Development of Tempo-Flexibility Between 10 and 18 Months of Age. Infancy, 22(4), 540-551. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12169
Sinead has provided guest lectures for undergraduates and masters students at King's College, University of Cambridge, the University of East Anglia, and Birkbeck, University of London. She supervises on the University of Cambridge PBS tripos and is a Learning Support Mentor at King's College.
Sinead is a certified BabyBrains trainer, delivering scientific content from psychology and neuroscience to new parents and perinatal professionals. She is also a scientific advisor in arts collaborations, and has previously worked with the Polka Theatre, Wimbledon. If you are interested in receiving accessible talks / workshops from BabyBrains, or in discussing how theatre and music for the very early years can be informed by and inspire new scientific findings, please email sineadrocha@gmail.com for further information.
Sinead is an Early Career Member of the International Congress of Infant Studies and can be contacted for membership of the informal Early Career Infancy Researchers slack channel.
Killikelly, C., & Szűcs, D. (2013). Delayed development of proactive response preparation in adolescents: ERP and EMG evidence. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 3, 33-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2012.08.002
Devine, A., Fawcett, K., Szűcs, D., & Dowker, A. (2012). Gender differences in mathematics anxiety and the relation to mathematics performance while controlling for test anxiety. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 8, 33. https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-9081-8-33
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- Research Assistant With the Centre for Neuroscience
Fiona Gabrielczyk has been a Research Assistant with the Centre for Neuroscience in Education since January 2018. She is currently working for the Botnar project.
Biography
Fiona earned her MA in Education Studies with Music from the University of Cambridge, where she was also awarded her PGCE and MEd in Researching Practice in Education.
While working in boarding education she gained a Postgraduate Certificate in Pastoral Care and Boarding Management. After this Fiona went on to specialise in special educational needs and disability education and coordination, and holds the NASENCO award. She is a qualified teacher of children with Specific Learning Difficulties.
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- Assistant Department Administrator and HR Coordinator
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- Job Titles Research Associate
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- Electronics Workshop Technician
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- Us / Department of Psychology
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- Job Titles Research Assistant
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- Research Assistant for the Centre for Neuroscience
Helen Olawole-Scott has been a Research Assistant for the Centre for Neuroscience in Education since she joined in 2018. She is currently working on the BabyRhythm project.
Biography
After completing her BSc in Psychology at Royal Holloway University of London, Helen obtained an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Amsterdam with funding from the Leverhulme Trust Study Abroad Studentship scheme.
Helen enjoys working with a range methods, spanning from eye-tracking technology to electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). She has a broad range of interests which are reflected in her research internships (‘Detecting local sleep patterns in awake participants using EEG' and ‘tDCS of the parietal cortex to bias spatial attention') and literature thesis (‘Alzheimer pathology in the visual system of Alzheimer disease patients'), which were completed over the course of the MSc course.
Before joining the Centre of Neuroscience in Education, Helen worked on several research projects as a Research Assistant and Research Administrator in the Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, including a project focusing on the behavioural and neuro-correlates of vocal imitation and speech learning.
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- Other Professional Activities
James studied Politics at POLIS in Cambridge. His undergraduate research project looked into the Moral Foundations of Brexit, and he has previously worked on the climate and immigration messaging projects in the lab. His MPhil research has explored the persistence and extent of 'neighbourhood effects' in UK elections over the last 30 years. His PhD is focused on the intersection of political psychology, election polling and geographical psychology. James is co-supervised by Jason Rentfrow.
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- Job Titles Research Associate
- Senior Chief Building Services Technician
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- Head of Administration
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- Computer Officer
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João Araújo joined the Centre for Neuroscience in Education in 2020 when he began doing his PhD, under the supervision of Professor Usha Goswami and Professor Ben Simons (Department of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge). His thesis combines the latest advances on the neurobiology of speech processing with modern computational modelling approaches to study differences in neural responses to speech in dyslexia / DLD. Through this research João aims to create a clinically-relevant classifier and a remediative intervention for these conditions based on a operant learning brain-computer-interface (BCI).
During his visits to the centre and as part of his research, João has worked upon both the Botnar and the Yidan projects.
Biography
João started doing research during his Licentiate degree in Psychological Science in collaboration with the Cognitive Psychology Lab of Universidade de Lisboa on written word recogntion while teaching himself how to code on his spare time. Subsequently, he completed a Master's degree in Neuropsychology, developing a thesis on the temporal modulation structure of illiterate and literate speech in a collaboration between Universidade Católica Portuguesa and the University of Cambridge. Before he started his PhD, he studied machine learning and computational modelling and completed a Minor in Statistics and Operational Research at Universidade de Lisboa.
Professionally, João got a taste of the start-up world, having developed the software and UX of a futuristic dashboard with a portuguese motorcycle start-up. He also worked at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown with a spin-off start-up where he developed a mobile interface and machine-learning classifiers able to detect a user's intention on a BCI task based on on-line neural data recordings (EEG).
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- Marie Curie Research Fellow, Uni of Trieste, Italy
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- Teaching and General Office Administrator
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- Job Titles Research Fellow
- Research Grants Administrator
- Research Project Coordinator / Cambridge Social Decision - Making Lab
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Lisa-Maria is co-supervised by Lee de-Wit and Professor Lucia Reisch, director of the El Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics and Policy. Her PhD is funded by the El Erian Institute. Her PhD research aims to understand how political psychology and behavioural economics can inform the development of interventions and policy measures to mitigate climate change through both individual and institutional action. She is interested in exploring matters of social justice, ethics and political polarisation surrounding climate change. Before joining the Political Psychology Lab for her PhD, she worked for two years at the University of Cambridge Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, where her research focused on the communication of evidence and uncertainty in a variety of domains from policy interventions to healthcare and the legal sector. She completed an MSc in Cognitive and Decision Science and BSc in Arts and Sciences at UCL. She explored decision-making processes at complementary cognitive, behavioural and political scales with an interdisciplinary combination of data analysis, experimental methods and computer programming.
Her paper as first author is available in the Royal Society Open Science Journal: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.212013
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- Executive Assistant and Engagement Officer
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- Director of the El Erian Institute of Behavioural Economics
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- Job Titles Research Assistant
Lyla Parvez joined the Centre for Neuroscience in Education in 2019 when she began doing her PhD, under the supervision of Professor Usha Goswami and. Her thesis will investigate atypical neural processing of speech stimuli in children with Developmental Language Disorder.
As part of her research, Lyla has worked upon both the Botnar and the Yidan projects.
Biography
Lyla earned her MA in Clinical Psychology at Columbia University, after completing a BA in Psychology (with a minor in Health, Medicine and Society) at the College of Arts and Sciences, Lehigh University. While studying for her MA she researched addiction within adults and adolescents at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
While studying Lyla worked as a Research Assistant at Columbia University, Harvard University, as well as the University of Oxford. During this time she did work on subjects including metacognitive abilities, trauma, language development, neuroimaging, and prosocial behaviour in children. Lyla has also been a Senior Associate researcher at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai here she worked on projects on the impact of drug and alcohol addiction.
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- Job Titles Research Associate
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- Job Titles Project Coordinator
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- P.a. to the Head of Department and Departmental Administrator
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- Job Titles Research Associate
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- Marie Curie Research Fellow, Uni of Trieste, Italy
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- Job Titles Research Associate
Ming Ye: MPhil Student (2020-2021), PhD Student (2021-present)
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- Job Titles Research Associate
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- Artistic Director, Rambert Dance Company
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- Senior Clinical Evidence Analyst - BMJ
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- Research Assistant for the Centre for Neuroscience
Natasha Mead has been a Research Assistant for the Centre for Neuroscience in Education since it opened in 2005. She is currently working on the BabyRhythm project. Before this Natasha tested the efficacy of "GraphoGame Rime" (sponsored by European Commission Marie Curie Excellence Grants, Education Endowment Foundation and the Wellcome Trust) as part of that project, as well as the Auditory Processing in Dyslexic Children (MRC) project.
Biography
Natasha received her BSc in Psychology from the Open University, while tutoring children between the ages of five and sixteen in English and Mathematics.
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- Research Project Coordinator
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- Professor of Comparative Cognition in the Department of Psychology / Director of Studies in Natural Sciences ( Biological ) for Clare College
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- BCNI Clinical Director
- Professor
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- Professor of Comparative Cognition
I am interested in the development and evolution of cognition, in both humans and non-human animals, particularly corvids and cephalopods. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. I am also a Fellow of the Society of Biology, a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and an Honorary Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, and an Honorary/Advisory Fellow of the United Sigma Intelligence Association (USIA). Together with Professor Clive Wilkins, who is Artist in Residence in the department (see Clive's entry below), I am co-founder of The Captured Thought, and also the Founding Director of the Cambridge Centre for the Integration of Science, Technology, and Culture, and an Honorary Director of Studies and Advisor for China-UK Development Centre. Clive Wilkins and I have Visiting Professorships at Nanjing University, Institute of Technology, China, Beijing Language and Culture University, China and Honorary Professorships at Hangzhou Diangi University, China. I am also a dancer, collaborating with Mark Baldwin, former Artistic Director at Rambert and a world-renowned choreographer. I am Scientist in Residence and Associate Artist at Rambert, the UK's flagship touring dance company (originally called Ballet Rambert).
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- Researcher in Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education, Sweden
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- Job Titles Receptionist
- Teaching Office Manager
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- Clinical Development Manager GlaxoSmithKline, UK
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- Assistant Professor at Hunter College, New York Founder and Executive Director at Think Elephants International, Inc
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- Lecturer, University of Vienna, Austria
Sakshi Ghai is a PhD student in Psychology at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on empowerment, technology, and behavior change in the context of the Global South. Sakshi is passionate about diversifying behavioral science. Recently, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania and a short-term consultant with the World Bank's Behavioral Science (eMBeD) unit. Sakshi is co-supervised by Amy Orben. Previously, she has worked at Ogilvy and Wharton People Analytics at the Wharton School. Sakshi was a 2015 Young India Fellow at Ashoka University and received her Master's in Behavioral and Decision Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi.
Sam Lloyd is now doing a PhD in environmental psychology at Victoria University.
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After studying PPE at Oxford, Tessa worked as a journalist (BBC, AFP, Daily Telegraph), before switching to government communications where she held roles including ministerial speechwriter, head of the UK Trade & Investment Press Office and Head of Communications on Europe for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (2012-2015). She worked on the Scottish referendum, the Olympics, Exporting is GREAT and the EU reform campaign. She left the civil service in 2016 to study for a Masters in Behavioural Science at LSE where she looked at behavioural factors behind the EU referendum result, and is now doing a PhD exploring the psychology of effective communications around immigration. Tessa is supervised by Lee and Alan Renwick (Deputy Director of the Constitution Unit, UCL).
Thomas Legein has a PhD in political science from CEVIPOL (Université libre de Bruxelles), and has worked on support for reforms to representative democracy, and the impact of framing in support for Basic Income. For his post-doc he is funded by the Wiener-Anspach foundation to study the perceptions of political parties and how that relates to beliefs about party reforms.
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- Associate Professor, Uni of Auckland, New Zealand
Professor Usha Goswami is the Director for the Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Professor of Cognitive Developmental Neuroscience and a Fellow of St. John's College, University of Cambridge.
Biography
Before joining the University of Cambridge in 2003 as a Professor of Education, Usha Goswami was the Professor of Cognitive Developmental Psychology at the Institute of Child Health, University College London. Usha has been a Lecturer in Psychology at St. John's College, University of Oxford, and Meton College, University of Oxford, as well as Lecturer in Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge.
She received her D.Phil in Developmental Psychology from the University of Oxford, where she had also been awarded her BA (Hons) in Experimental Psychology. Usha was awarded a PGCE in Primary Education from the University of London.
Goswami, U., Power, A. J., Lallier, M. & Facoetti, A. (2014). Oscillatory ‘temporal sampling' and developmental dyslexia: Towards an over-arching theoretical framework. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 904. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00904
Soltész, F., Szűcs, D., White, S., Leong, V., & Goswami, U. (2011). Atypical entrainment of delta oscillations to auditory rhythm in developmental dyslexia. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). https://doi.org/10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00308
Corriveau, K. H., & Goswami, U. (2009). Rhythmic motor entrainment in children with speech and language impairments: Tapping to the beat. Cortex, 45, 119-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2007.09.008
Thomson, J., & Goswami, U. (2008). Rhythmic processing in children with developmental dyslexia: Auditory and motor rhythms link to reading and spelling. Journal of Physiology, 102, 120-129.
Treiman, R., Goswami, U., Tincoff, R., & Leevers, H. (1997). Effects of dialect on American and British children's spelling. Child Development, 68, 229-245. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131847
Goswami, U. (1990). A special link between rhyming skill and the use of orthographic analogies by beginning readers. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31, 301-311.
Usha has been the supervisor for a number of different PhD and MPhil projects, and currently has four PhD students: Lyla Parvez, João Araújo, Keith Liang and Nicole Tan.
Usha is a Fast Track Editor for Developmental Science, Editor of Applied Psycholinguistics (2001-2005) and has been on the editorial advisory boards for journals including Reading and Writing, Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Cognitive Development, Mind Brain and Education, Annals of Dyslexia, Trends in Neuroscience in Education, Psychological Bulletin and Perspectives in Child Development.
Power, A., Mead, N., Barnes, L., & Goswami, U. (2013). Erratum: Neural entrainment to rhythmically-presented auditory, visual and audio-visual speech in children. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 905. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00905
Leong, V., Stone, M. A., Turner, R. E. & Goswami, U. (2014). A role for amplitude modulation phase relationships in speech rhythm perception. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 136, 366-381. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4883366
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- Research Centre Manager
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- Applied Developmental Psychology Research Group