Bio

I am a professor of cognitive neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London. My research lab focuses on a multi-disciplinary approach to investigating causes of cognitive variability, be that changes over age or differences between individuals. I have recently been using neurocomputational modelling to investigate the causal pathways through which differences in SES may affect cognitive and brain development against a background of genetic sources of variation, as well as the ways in which different hypothetical pathways may influence the targets of intervention. Separately, I have served as the Director of the University of London Centre for Educational Neuroscience (http://www.educationalneuroscience.org.uk/) since 2010. The centre is concerned with translating insights from research on the neural mechanisms of learning into implications for education in the classroom. Educational neuroscience is a field that crucially relies on a dialogue between researchers, educators, and policymakers on factors that influence educational outcomes. In this context, I have carried out work considering the implications of SES effects for education (e.g., http://www.educationalneuroscience.org.uk/2018/07/13/the-nature-and-nurture-of-education/), and empirical work examining the effects of SES in a cohort study of executive function development across the adolescent years (https://www.scampstudy.org/).