Centre for Educational Neuroscience Research Seminars are open to the public. They take place online over Zoom on Thursdays between 4pm-5pm. To attend, please register for free here: https://tinyurl.com/tucbkoo

Spring 2024

Jan 11 – Prof Ulrich Dettweiler (University of Stavanger) – Pupils’ Biological Stress Regulation and Cerebral Maturation in an Outdoor Education Project. Recording here

Jan 18 – Prof Michael Thomas (Birkbeck College) – Climate change, education, and neuroscience. Recording here

Jan 25 – Prof Attila Krajcsi (Eötvös Loránd University) – Place-value structure of the Arabic number notation is a key why math is difficult for a subgroup of people with dyscalculia. Recording here

Feb 1 – Dr Jack Andrews (Uiversity of Oxford) – Evaluating universal school-based interventions for mental health. Recording here

Feb 8 – Dr Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa (Harvard University Extension School) – How can teachers become learning scientists, and why would this improve education? Teacher Development in Mind, Brain, and Education. Recording here

Feb 15 – No seminar

Feb 22 – Prof James Booth (Vanderbilt University) – Brain Basis of Language Development

Feb 29 – Dr Noam Sagiv (Brunel University) – Anthropomorphising and mentalising in synaesthesia: New perspectives on social cognition.

Mar 7 – Dr Rufan Luo (Arizona State University) – Supporting children’s language and literacy learning environment in disadvantaged households in the United States: Challenges and opportunities.

Mar 14 – Dr Anna Matejko (University of Graz) – Title tbc.

Mar 21 – Dr Firat Soylu (University of Alabama) – Going beyond the cognitivist framing in understanding bodily foundations of mathematical cognition.

 

Autumn 2023

Oct 12 – Prof Daniel Ansari (Western University, Ontario) – Towards a better understanding of symbolic number development. Recording here

Oct 19 – Dr Rebecca Gordon (UCL Institute of Education) – Working memory as a current and future predictor of maths ability in primary school children: The effect of time-constraints, working memory domain, and performance indices. Recording here

Oct 26 – Andrew Watson (International Mind, Brain and Education Society) – “Because the Research Says So”: Evaluating ‘brain-based’ teaching advice. Recording here

Nov 2 – Prof Emily Jones (Birkbeck College) – Moving from deficit-based to neurodiversity-affirmative frameworks for understanding early autism. Recording here

Nov 9 – No seminar

Nov 16 – Prof Mark Haselgrove (University of Nottingham) – Learning about novel and familiar stimuli in children: A developmental trajectory. Recording here

Nov 23 – Prof Michael Thomas (Birkbeck College) & Jeremy Dudman-Jones (Learnus) – Communicating eductional neuroscience to teachers. Recording here

Nov 30 – Prof Jo van Herwegen (UCL Institute of Education) & Karen McGuigan (The Maths Mum) – Improving mathematical abilities for all using Maths for Life: a differentiated approach to the maths curriculum. Recording here

Dec 7 – Prof Julie Dockrell (UCL Institute of Education) – Why understanding the development of oral language matters. Recording here

Dec 14 – Davina Robson (University of Wollongong) – Test anxiety, brain electrical activity and skin conductors. Recording here

Summer 2023

Apr 20 – Prof Nienke van Atteveldt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) – Proving or improving yourself: neurocognitive interplay between motivation, learning behavior and achievement. Recording here

Apr 27 – Prof Roberto Filippi (UCL Institute of Education) – Growing up/becoming multilingual: Effects on brain and behaviour. Recording here

May 04 – Dr Sophie Epstein (King’s College London) – School absence as a predictor of mental health problems and self-harm in adolescents: A series of longitudinal studies using linked mental health and education data.

May 11 – No seminar 

May 18 – Dr Dominic Kelly (UCL Institute of Education) – Educational Neuro(open)science – Utilising secondary data and multiverse analyses to replicate and extend adolescent research. Recording here

May 25 – Prof Louise Dye (University of Leeds) – Effect of Diet on Cognitive & Mental health: Implications of food insecurity & the cost of living crisis.

Jun 01 – No seminar – Half Term

Jun 8 – Roisin Perry (UCL Institute of Education) – Executive function goes to school: A focus on socioeconomic status and autism.

Jun 15 – Heba Al-Jayoosi (UCL Institute of Education) – Evaluating the use of flexible seating in a mainstream primary school for neurotypical and neurodivergent pupils **cancelled**

Jun 22 – Dr Olivia Afonso (Oxford Brookes University) – Word writing in typical development and in developmental dyslexia. Recording here

Jun 29 – Yasin Arslan (UCL Institute of Education) – Neurocognitive understanding of learning: The role of educational neuroscience in teacher training. Recording here

Jul 06 – Dr Nandini Chatterjee Singh (UNESCO) – Can game-play build a better world? Recording here

Spring 2023

Jan 12 — Ms Lina van Drunen (Leiden University) — How music alters brain development: a longitudinal twin study on sensorimotor synchronization and brain plasticity  Recording here

Jan 19 — Prof Michael Thomas (Birkbeck) — Book Discussion: ‘The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA matters for social equality’ by Kathryn Paige Harden  Recording here

Jan 26 — Dr Dietsje Jolles (Leiden University) — When we least expect it… How generating predictions can support learning  Please contact Lucy Palmer if you are interested in viewing the recording of this seminar

Feb 09 — Dr Cathy Rogers (Birkbeck) and Dr Victoria Knowland (University of York) — Educational neuroscience in the field: Evaluating an adult literacy programme in East Africa  Recording here

Feb 16 — No Seminar — Reading Week

Feb 23 — Dr Megan McClelland (Oregon State University) — Promoting Self-Regulation in Young Children  Recording here

Mar 02 — Dr Tom Stafford (University of Sheffield) — Maximizing the potential of digital games for understanding skill acquisition  Recording here

Mar 09 — Ms Claire Essex (Birkbeck, University of London) — Understanding the short-term effects of media content features on Executive Function across development. Recording here

Autumn 2022

Oct 20 – Prof Iroise Dumontheil (Birkbeck, University of London) and Lucy Palmer (Birkbeck, University of London) – The role of inhibitory control in counterintuitive reasoning in science and maths across development Recording here

Oct 27 – Tamara Dkaidek (Brunel University) – The effects of an acute bout of cycling on brain function Recording here

Nov 3 – International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES) Symposium — Understanding the Relation Between Executive Functions and Math in Early Childhood: Insights from New Research and Perspectives — Dr Andy Ribner (University of Pittsburgh), Dr Caylee Cook (University of Witwatersrand), Dr Rebecca Merkley (Careleton University) and Dr Dana Miller-Cotto (Kent State University) Please note that this will be an extended two-hour symposium taking place from 4 pm – 6 pm
Recording here

Nov 17 – Prof Sam Wass (University of East London) – Why scaffolding is a bad metaphor: what observing the microdynamics of dual adult-child play using EEG can tell us about how shared concentration develops between children and adults Recording here

Nov 24 – Dr Abby Russell (University of Exeter) – Developing a school-based toolkit to support Primary school teachers working with children with traits of ADHD Recording here

Dec 1 – Prof Taeko Wydell (Brunel University) – Developmental Dyslexia in Different Languages: Behavioural Dissociation and Biological Unity Recording here

Dec 8 – Dr Sanne van der Kleij (University of Birmingham) – Reading and vocabulary development across the transition from primary to secondary education Recording here

Dec 15 – Dr Divyangana Rakesh (Harvard University) – Early adversity, brain development, and mental health during adolescence Recording here

Summer 2022

April 21st – Dr Nathan Lau (University of Western Ontario) – Disentangling the Individual and Contextual Effects of Math Anxiety: A Global Perspective Recording here

April 28th – Dr Jonathan Firth (University of Strathclyde) – The potential uses of interleaving across the curriculum Recording here

May 5th – Gemma Goldenberg (University of East London) – The impact of the learning environment on children’s cognition, stress and behaviour Recording here

May 12th – Dr Jessica Massonnié (University of Portsmouth) – Profiling early childhood education systems across countries. Recording here

May 19th – Prof Deborah Riby (Durham University) and Dr Mary Hanley (Durham University) – Triple-A: Attention, Arousal and Anxiety in the Classroom for Autistic and Neurodivergent Learners. Recording here

June 9th – Astrid Bowen (Birkbeck University of London) – Educational interventions: Trials, evidence, and the case of school-based mentoring. Recording here

June 16th – Fotini Vasilopoulos (Birkbeck University of London) – Multi-level meta-analysis of physical activity interventions during childhood. Recording here

June 23rd – Brittney Chere (Birkbeck University of London) – Learning Amongst Noise.  Recording here

June 30th – Dr Mojtaba Soltanlou (University of Surrey) – The mathematical brain from birth to school. Recording here

Spring 2022

Jan 13 – Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (Cambridge University) – Development of the social brain in adolescence and effects of social distancing Recording here

Jan 20 – Sara De Felice (University College London) – Social-interaction is a catalyst for learning: evidence from two online studies Recording here

Jan 27 – Matthew Slocombe  (Birkbeck, University of London) – The cognitive science of teaching and learning with analogies Recording here

Feb 10 – Dr Johan Korhonen (Åbo Akademi University) – Choking under pressure: linking math anxiety and performance Recording here

Feb 24 – Dr James Smith-Spark (London South Bank University) – Dyslexia in adulthood No recording available 

Mar 03 – Dr Mark Kennedy (King’s College London) – Understanding ADHD: MOOCs; what drives learning and attitude change? Recording here

Mar 10  – Prof Clarence Joldersma (Calvin University) – The handiness of hands: enactive cognition in the woodshop Recording here

Mar 17 – Prof Lucy Henry (City University, London) – Hebbian learning in adolescents with intellectual disabilities Recording here

Mar 24 – Prof Andrew Tolmie (UCL Institute of Education) – The role of attention in spatial-temporal cognition Recording here

Mar 31 – Prof Dénes Szücs (University of Cambridge) – Cognitive and emotional factors in mathematics development Recording here

Autumn 2021

Oct 14 – Prof Chris Jarrold (University of Bristol) – Measuring the developmental interactions between working memory and inhibitory control in young children Recording here

Oct 21 – Dr Katie Allen (Durham University) – Longitudinal working memory predictors of mathematics across primary school Recording here

Oct 28 – Reading week – no seminar

Nov 11 – Dr Gavin Buckingham (University of Exeter) – Developmental coordination disorder: current work and future directions Recording here

Nov 18 – Dr John Coleman (University of Bedfordshire) – The teacher and the teenage brain: how neuroscience can make a difference to schools, to parents and to young people Recording here

Nov 25 – Dr Thomas Perry (University of Warwick) – The Translation of Cognitive Science to the Classroom: Reflections on the EEF Cognitive Science in the Classroom Review Recording here

Dec 02 – Dr Jenny Yun-Chen Chan (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) – Grasping patterns of algebraic understanding: Dynamic technology supports learning and research in mathematical cognition Recording here

Dec 09 – Anna Widlund (Åbo Akademi University) – Developmental dynamics of academic well-being during adolescence Recording here

Summer 2021

Apr 29 – Dr Daniel Poole (University of Manchester) – Investigating timing processes in autism Recording here

May 06 – Prof Wendy Best (UCL) – Interventions with children with word-finding difficulties and exploration of the implications of analysing the results at different levels No recording available 

May 13 – Dr Keri Wong (UCL Institute of Education) – Post Covid Recovery: Education, Resilience and Mental Health Recording here

May 20 – Prof Pirjo Aunio (University of Helsinki) – Understanding and supporting children with low early numeracy performance – how to avoid learning difficulties later on? Recording here

May 27 – Dr Cheryl Glazebrook (University of Manitoba) – Technology in Education: Using Augmented Sensory Input to Enhance Motor Skill Performance Recording here

June 03 – Dr Nathan Foster (Italian Institute of Technology) – Generalisable motor learning in autistic children: educational implications Recording here

June 10 – Prof Michael Thomas & Dr Jo Van Herwegen (Birkbeck & UCL Institute of Education) – Neuromyths about neurodevelopmental disorders: Misconceptions by educators and the general public Recording here

June 17 – Dr Tom van Rossum (Leeds Beckett University) – Physical education teachers’ perceptions of fundamental motor skills Recording here

June 24 – Dr Flavia Santos (University College Dublin) – Interventions for children with developmental dyscalculia Recording here

July 01 – Dr Tammy Campbell (London School of Economics) – Little fish, big streams: How do early in-class maths ‘ability’-groups and early teacher judgements relate to primary school children’s later maths self-concept? Recording here

Spring 2021

Jan 21 – Dr Jonathon Beale (Tony Little Centre for Innovation and Research in Learning, Eton College) – “Educational Neuroscience and Educational Neuroscientism” Recording here

Jan 28 – Prof Michael Thomas (Birkbeck, University of London) – “Key themes emerging from the CEN’s new book on Educational Neuroscience” Recording here

Feb 04 – Prof Derek Bell (Learnus) & Dr Helen Darlington (South Wirral High School) – “Educational neuroscience: so what does it mean in the classroom?” Recording here

Feb 11 – Dr Gavin Breslin (University of Ulster) – “How Physical Activity and Sport can Impact Mental Health and Wellbeing across Educational Setting” Recording here

Feb 18 – Dr Rebecca Gordon (UCL Institute of Education) – “Mapping Components of Verbal and Visuospatial Working Memory to Mathematical Topics in Seven- to Fifteen-year-olds” Recording here

Feb 25 – Dr Hiwet Costa (Universidad de Málaga) – “First Spanish online dyscalculia test: a validation study” Recording here

Mar 04 – Dr Karla Holmboe (University of Oxford) – “Early development of inhibitory control” Recording here

Mar 11 – Dr Bert De Smedt (KU Leuven) – “Individual differences in early mathematical development: the roles of symbolic number processing and more” Recording here

Mar 18 – John Bishop (Evolve Education) – “Detail matters. Why delivering successful school based research projects is so difficult” Recording here

Mar 25 – Prof Gaia Scerif (University of Oxford) – “Attention and the classroom: Development under high genetic or environmental risk” Recording here

Autumn 2021

Oct 15 – Dr Petri Partanen (Mid Sweden University) – “Linking Neurocognitive Processing Abilities to Curriculum Content, Instructional Design and Learning Environments in School” Recording here

Oct 22 – Dr Michael Hobbiss (Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL) – “Habit Formation Limits Growth in Teacher Effectiveness: A Review of Converging Evidence from Neuroscience and Social Science” Recording here

Oct 29 – Prof Daniel Willingham (University of Virginia) – “The Application of Basic Science to Problems in Education” Recording here

Nov 05 – Nick Judd (Karolinska Institute) – “Training Spatial Cognition Enhances Mathematical Learning – A Randomized Study in 17,000 Children” Recording here

Nov 19 – Dr Anna Llaurado (UCL Institute of Education) – “Narratives as a Tool for Oral Language Assessment: Characterizing the Macro and Micro Level Features of Stories Produced by Young Children” Recording here

Nov 26 – Dr Jessica Massonnié (UCL Institute of Education) – “Understanding the Impact of Classroom Noise on Children’s Performance: Moving Beyond a Black and White Perspective” Recording here

Dec 03 – Prof Mark Hollands (Liverpool John Moores University) – “Why Do Children with DCD Trip and Fall More Than Others? Looking Around for Answers” Recording here

Dec 10 – Prof Kristien Hens (University of Antwerp) – “Dynamics of Autism. A Philosophical-Ethical Reflection”

Dec 17 – Prof Emily Farran (University of Surrey) – “The Relationship Between Spatial Reasoning and Mathematics in Childhood”

 

Summer 2020

Due to the Covid-19 situation, the CEN seminar series has been moved online. We will be recording the seminars and providing the links below. If you would like to attend the seminars live and contribute to the discussion, please join the mailing list (see link above).

• 21 May – Prof. Michael Thomas (Director of the Centre for Educational Neuroscience, & Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London) – Discussing of a recent paper in Current Biology, entitled ‘Transdiagnostic brain mapping in developmental disorders‘, in addition to his commentary, originally entitled ‘Developmental disorders: Struggling at school? The unbiased eye sees few specific disorders, no specific brain regions‘
  Click here to listen to the recording 
• 28 May – Dr Margherita Malanchini (Department of Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London) – Educational success beyond cognitive ability: A genetic perspective
• 4 June – Dr Rebecca Merkley (Institute of Cognitive Science, Carleton University) – Cognitive foundations of early years math development: insights from research-practice partnerships
• 11 June – Dr Steven Papachistou (UCL Institute of Education – Psychology & Human Development) – Ability-grouping and problem behaviour trajectories in childhood and adolescence: Results from a UK population-based sample
• 18 June – Dr Michelle Ellefson (Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge) – Does socioeconomic status influence executive functions skills in children?
• 25 June – Dr Darren Duning (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge) – Does mindfulness training improve adolescent mental health?
• 2 July – Dr Victoria Simms (School of Psychology, Ulster University) – Influences on early mathematical skills: What counts?
• 9 July – Prof Lennart Schalk (Institute for Teaching Research and Didactics, Schwyz University of Teacher Education) – The benefits of early physics instruction: Selected results from the Swiss MINT Study

Spring 2020

• 16 Jan – Dr. Jake Anders (Director of CREATE in the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities) – Determinants of private school participation: all about the money?
• 23 Jan – NO SEMINAR
• 30 Jan – Éadaoin Slattery (Department of Psychology, University of Limerick) – Keeping Score!: the development of a school-based attention training programme
• 6 Feb – Dr. Annie Brookman-Byrne (The Psychologist) – Communicating educational neuroscience to a wide audience
• 13 Feb – Matthew Slocombe (Birkbeck) – Analogies in the mind and in the classroom: Translating cognitive science research into science education practice
• 27 Feb – Dr. Joni Holmes (Head of the Centre for Attention Learning and Memory (CALM), MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit) –  Transdiagnostic approaches to understanding why children struggle at school
• 5 March – Professor Yulia Kovas (Goldsmiths, University of London) -Genetics and education [CANCELLED DUE TO UCU STRIKE – WILL BE RESCHEDULED]
• 12 March – Dr. Steven Papachistou (UCL Institute of Education) – Ability-grouping and problem behaviour trajectories in childhood and adolescence: Results from a UK population-based sample [CANCELLED DUE TO UCU STRIKE – WILL BE RESCHEDULED]
• 19 March – Dr. Margherita Malanchini (Queen Mary, University of London) Cognitive ability and education: how genetic research has advanced our understanding of their association [CANCELLED DUE TO UCU STRIKE – WILL BE RESCHEDULED]

13/03/2020. Due to the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 virus we have decided to finish the current seminar series now. So the seminar scheduled on 26th March 2020 will not take place. We will reassess the situation after the Easter break, with the hope that the CEN seminar series will be able to run again next term, and will keep you updated.

• 26 March – Laurel Woodridge (Birkbeck) – Understanding the specificity of genetic effects on neurocognitive development [CANCELLED]

Autumn 2019

• 10th Oct – Dr. Iroise Dumontheil (Birkbeck) – Training children to stop and think in maths and science (UnLocke) – does it work?
• 17th Oct – Dr. Emma Meaburn (Birkbeck) – Polygenic scores in educational practice: fact or fiction?
• 24th Oct – Prof. Michael Thomas (Birkbeck) – Intervention in theory and practice
• 31st Oct – Dr. Julia Hofweber (UCL Institute of Education) – The effects of code-switching on bilinguals’ executive functions
• 14th Nov – Dr. Stuart Richie (King’s College London) – Polygenic prediction of cognitive traits: some cautionary tales [NOTE CHANGE OF DATE]
• 21st Nov – Dr. Sue Whiting – Critiquing papers: Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density (Holzel 2011) [NOTE CHANGE OF DATE] 
• 28th Nov – Dr. Rebecca Gordon (UCL Institute of Education) – Measuring executive function in children
• 5th Dec – Dr. Roberto Filippi (UCL Institute of Education) – The multilingual world: building a bridge between science and education
• 12th Dec – Vana Avgerinou (Putney High School & UCL Institute of Education) – Is inhibitory control involved in learning counterintuitive maths concepts? An investigation of inhibition and cognitive load in fractions and decimals

Summer 2019

• 9th May – Alex Black (Let’s Think). Cognitive acceleration: Towards the science of science teaching and beyond.
• 16th May – Dr. Nikolaus Steinbeis (UCL ICN) – New perspectives on the development of cognitive control.
• 23rd May – Prof. Michael Thomas (Birkbeck) – Can the great modern philanthropists (Gates, Zuckerberg) trigger a revolution in education?
• 30th May – Prof. Chloe Marshall (UCL IOE) – Discussion of two papers, Leonard et al. (2019) and Haebig et al (2019) on retrieval-based word learning in young typically developing children and children with developmental language disorders.
• 6th June – Dr. Christian Bokhove (University of Southampton). The Role of “Opportunity to Learn” in the Geometry Curriculum: A Multilevel Comparison of Six Countries
• 13th June – Dr. Alex Hodgkiss (University of Oxford) – The role of spatial cognition in children’s science learning.
• 20th June – Dr. Georgina Donati (Birkbeck). Discussion of recent report on the brain basis for integrated social, emotional, and academic development.
• 27th June – Dr. Spencer Hayes (UCL IOE). Sensorimotor learning and control in autistic and non-autistic individuals.
• 4th July – Dr Micah Goldwater (University of Sydney). Relational categories in mind, brain, and education
• 11th July – Emma Browning (King’s College London). Bridging the Gap Between Past and Present: Narrative Nonfiction in the Primary History Classroom.

Spring 2019

• 17th Jan – Jessica Massonnié (Birkbeck). Is classroom noise always bad for learning? An investigation of inter-individual differences in pupils’ sensitivity to noise.
• 24th Jan – Prof. Michael Thomas (Birkbeck). Educational neuroscience: Progress and prospects (overview of a recent review article available here)
• 31st Jan – Melissa Uye-Parker (UCL Academy) – Experiences of devising and improving interventions for children with SEN
• 7th Feb – Selma Coecke (UCL IOE) – Science learning and conceptual development
• 14th Feb – Cathy Rogers (Birkbeck) – The cognitive neuroscience of adult learning and its application to improving adult literacy programmes in the developing world.
• 28th Feb – Dr. Jo van Herwegen (UCL IOE) – Relating basic research on developmental disorders to education
• 14th Mar – Dr. Emily Smith-Woolley (UCL IOE) – What can genetics tell us about education outcomes?
• 21st Mar – Dr. Laura Outhwaite (UCL IOE) – Can maths apps add value to early education?

Autumn 2018

• 4th Oct – Prof. Chloe Marshall (UCL IOE). Discussion of “The real thing: pre-schoolers prefer actual activities to pretend ones”. Paper by Taggart, Heise and Lillard in Developmental Science.
• 11th Oct – Dr Jo Evershed (Cauldron). Online research is #trending, but is it good science?
• 18th Oct – Dr Zita Patai (UCL). Global determinants of navigation ability.
• 26th Oct – Prof. Lindsey Richland (University of Chicago). Strengthening children’s mathematical thinking by considering cognitive resources and pressure to perform.
• 1st Nov – Leonardo Bevilacqua (UCL IOE and ICH). The role of school experience in mediating the association between conduct problems trajectories and NEET status.
• 8th Nov – Dr Anna Remington (UCL IOE Centre for Research in Autism and Education). A double-edged sword: The real-life impact of increased perceptual capacity in autism.
• 15th Nov – Dr Natasha Kirkham (Birkbeck). Mutlimodal learning.
• 22nd Nov – Julia Harrington (Queen Anne’s School, Reading). A head teacher’s perspective on why psychology and neuroscience research is more important than ever for the future of education.
• 29th Nov – Alria Williams (UCL IOE Centre for Research in Autism and Education). Designing educational robot activities for children on the autism spectrum.
• 6th Dec – Prof. Michael Thomas (Birkbeck). Discussion of “Revisiting the marshmallow test: A conceptual replication investigating links between early delay of gratification and later outcomes”. Paper by Watts, Duncan and Quan in Psychological Science and follow-up articles
• 13th Dec – Dr Kathryn Mason (UCL IOE) and Alice Bowmer (UCL IOE). Investigating the impact of a musical intervention on preschool children’s executive function.

Summer 2018

• 26th April – Prof. Chloe Marshall (IOE). Montessori education: A review of the evidence base.
• 10th May – Dr Sveta Mayer (IOE). Design and evaluation of an education intervention for children with autism targeting social and emotional engagement through observation
• 17th May – Cathy Rogers (Birkbeck). “I just got a popped up in my head”. A qualitative analysis of how executive control processes contribute, positively and negatively, to children’s creativity.
• 24th May – Rachel Snape (Spinney School, Cambridge) and Dr Sara Baker (University of Cambridge). #OnlyConnect.
• 31st May – Lorcan Kenny (IOE). Testing the ecological validity of executive function assessment in autism in a novel “tea-making” task
• 7th June – Susanne De Mooij (Birkbeck). Online math reasoning: Capturing the mind in motion using eye- and mouse tracking to enhance personalised education.
• 14th June – Prof. Jane Hurry and Lisa Fridkin (IOE). Triggers for situational interest: Using higher order rewards to create intrinsic motivation in the classroom.
• 21st June – Dr Sue Whiting (Birkbeck). Stress and learning in children: Neuroscience evidence and its relevance for teachers.
• 28th June – Matthew Slocombe (Birkbeck). The role of conceptual of development in children’s analogical reasoning.

Spring 2018

• 11th January – Prof. Alice Sullivan (IOE). The intergenerational transmission of vocabulary.
• 25th January – Dr Silvia Dalvit Menabe (Babybrains). Connecting science with parents. An app to empower parents through education in infant brain development.
• 1st February – Prof. Robert Savage (IOE). Approaches to early reading interventions.
• 8th February – Dr. Emily Midouhas (IOE). The quality of air outside and inside the home: Associations with early childhood outcomes.
• 15th February – NO  SEMINAR
• 22nd February – Dr. Frances Knight (IOE). Sleep-dependent learning and daytime function.
• 8th March – Michael Hobbiss (UCL). The distracted mind is an unhappy mind: Predicting distraction, and its emotional correlates, in real-world environments such as schools.
• 22nd March – Dr Kathryn Asbury (University of York). What can genetic research offer to education?

Autumn 2017

• 12th October – Dr. Iroise Dumontheil (Birkbeck). Discussion of the paper by Alvarez-Bueno et al. (2017). The effect of physical activity interventions on children’s cognition and metacognition: A systematic review and analysis. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 56, 729-738.
• 19th October – Professor Stella Vosniadou (Flinders University, Australia). The recruitment of inhibition and shifting in the employment of science concepts in on-line conceptual change tasks.
• 26th October – Alex Hodgkiss (UCL Institute of Education). Spatial cognition, embodied cognition and children’s scientific reasoning.
• 2nd November – Annie Brookman-Byrne (Birkbeck) and Lia Commissar (Wellcome Trust). How can we move the field of educational neuroscience forward?
• 9th November – Dr. Natalia Kucirkova (UCL). The impact of digital personalisation on children’s experiences of texts and stories.
• 15th November: Professor Daniel Ansari (University of Western Ontario). How specific are specific learning disorders?. NOTE, WEDNESDAY SEMINAR.  Please note the change of venue to: Room B13, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD. Building number 13 on this map: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/downloads/maps/central-london.pdf
• 23rd November: Fiona Button (UCL Institute of Education). Using insights from cognitive neuropsychology in the classroom: A controlled trial of teaching spelling to KS2 pupils . Please note the venue: Raynes Seminar Room in the Henry Wellcome Building, opposite the main Birkbeck building.
• 30th November: Professor Michael Thomas (Birkbeck). The neuroscience of poverty.
• 7th December: Dr Jenni Rodd (UCL). How do we understand the meanings of words?

Summer 2017

• 4th May – Professor Michael Thomas (Birkbeck). Can executive functions be improved through training? Discussion of Diamond and Ling’s (2016) review paper’
• 11th May – Dr John Jerrin (UCL Institute of Education). Quantitative education and social research.
• 18th May – Dr Emma Meaburn (Birkbeck). Evidence for wide scale pleiotropy in genetic studies of cognition: what is it and what does it mean? (Final title TBC)
• 25th May – READING WEEK. No seminar.
• 1st June – Dr Thomas Hunt (Department of Life Sciences, University of Derby). Title TBC (topic: Maths performance and anxiety)
• 8th June: Alice Jones Bartoli (Goldsmiths College). Title TBC (topic: Social and emotional processing in children with behavioural problems)
• 15th June: Prof. Nazanin Derakshan (Birkbeck). Title: Improving attentional control to reduce anxiety and depressive related vulnerability in adolescents
• 22nd June: TBC
• 29th June: Dr Darya Gaysina (University of Sussex). What rare genetic syndromes can tell us about variation in educationally relevant traits. Title TBC
• 6th July: Dr Toni-Kim Clarke (Edinburgh University). UK biobank and Generation Scotland findings: positive genetic links between alcohol consumption and education

Spring 2017

• 19th January – Katie Gillingham (CEN PhD student). Exploring the developmental relations between spatial cognition and mathematics in primary school
• 26th January – Su Morris (CEN PhD student). The relationship between Field Independence, and maths and science ability – early indications from a recent study.
• 2nd February – Dr Sam Wass (University of East London). New Meanings of ‘thin-skinned’: autonomic and neural correlates of biological sensitivity to context
• 9th February – Dr Roberto Filippi (UCL Institute of Education). Bilingual minds: The impact of speaking two (or more) languages on cognitive development
• 23rd February – Dr Anna Pearce (UCL Institute of Child Health). Socio-economic inequalities and academic achievement
• 9th March – Professor Michael Thomas (Birkbeck). Challenges in evaluating educational interventions: Evidence vs. evidence-based practice
• 16th March – Professor Jacqueline Barnes (Birkbeck).Professor Jacqueline Barnes (Birkbeck). Challenges to evaluating early (group) intervention: Results of an RCT of group family nurse partnership.
• 23rd March – Dr. Iro Xenidou-Dervou (Loughborough University). Explaining individual differences in early mathematics achievement

Autumn 2016

• 13th October – Prof. Michael Thomas, Birkbeck. “Is educational neuroscience all it’s cracked up to be?”
• 20th October – Dr Iroise Dumontheil, Birkbeck. “Mindfulness training during adolescence”
• 27th October – Ms Georgie Donati, Birkbeck. “Executive functions and academic performance during adolescence in the ALSPAC sample”
• 3rd November – Dr Josie Booth, The University of Edinburgh. “Linking the mind and the body in education: The role of physical activity in children’s cognition and attainment”
• 17th November – Ms Kaili Rimfeld & Ms Eva Krapohl, Institute Of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. “Aetiology of educational achievement and the cognitive and non-cognitive predictors of achievement”
• 24th November – Dr Tom Gallagher-Mitchell, Liverpool Hope University. “A Journey Through Numbers, Space and Time: A developmental perspective.”
• 1st December – Ms Jenny Glennon, Birkbeck. Paper discussion: Johnson et al. (2016). Omega 3/6 fatty acids for reading in children: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in 9-year-old mainstream school children in Sweden. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
• 8th December – Professor Ted Meluish, Birkbeck. “Long-term effects of early years experience”

Summer 2016

• 21^st April – Dr. Camilla Gilmore, Loughborough University. Skills underlying maths: the role of executive functions in mathematics performance G1 seminar room, 25 Woburn Square
• 12^th May – Prof Gaia Scerif/ Rebecca Merkley, University of Oxford. Beyond number sense: Domain-general and specific contributions to early childhood numeracy. G1 seminar room, 25 Woburn Square
• 19^th May – Dr Carina de Klerk, Birkbeck. Mimicry in infancy: the role of sensorimotor experience and social signals. SSRU seminar room, 18 Woburn Square.
• 26^th May – Dr Emma Meaburn, Birkbeck. The biological basis of learning abilities: key findings from contemporary genomic studies. G1 seminar room, 25 Woburn Square
• 2^nd June – Prof Michael Thomas, Birkbeck. How can the study of genetics help educators? SSRU seminar room, 18 Woburn Square.

Spring 2016

• 14^th January – Prof Claire Hughes, Cambridge. Executive Function:  social influences & links with school readiness. G1 seminar room, 25 Woburn Square
• 21^st January – Dr. Tim Smith, Birkbeck. Investigating the impact of touchscreen use on toddler’s cognitive development: Introducing the TABLET project G1 seminar room, 25 Woburn Square
• 11^th February – Patricia Babtie (co-author with Jane Emerson of “The Dyscalculia Assessment”, Continuum Publishing Corporation [2010]). Dyscalculia and Numeracy Difficulties: Why does multi-sensory teaching matter. SSRU seminar room, 18 Woburn Square.
• 18^th February – Dr. John Jerrim, UCL IOE. Chess in schools. G1 seminar room, 25 Woburn Square
• 10^th March – Dr. Charles Chew, Ministry of Education, Singapore. Development of Innovative Bio-physics Demonstrations for Constructivist Teaching using the Predict-Observe-Explain [POE] Instructional Approach. SSRU seminar room, 18 Woburn Square

Autumn 2015

• Thursday 15th October – Dr. Ben Shaw, University of Westminster. Title TBC. See: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33847890. G1 seminar room, 25 Woburn Square

• Thursday 22nd October – Sarah Punshon (see: www.sarahpunshon.co.uk). Getting stuck, going wrong and being stupid: could a theatrical adventure impact children’s beliefs about their mathematical brains? G1 seminar room, 25 Woburn Square

• Thursday 12th November – Dr. Sam Wass, Cambridge University. What’s the difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ stress? How mood, and mood stability, can affect concentration and learning in children. G1 seminar room, 25 Woburn Square

• Thursday 26th November – Dr. Jo Van Herwegen, Kingston University. Block design performance in Williams syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders: differences in visuo-spatial abilities or task approach skills? G1 seminar room, 25 Woburn Square

Summer 2014

• Tuesday May 13th – Dr. Roi Cohen Kadosh, University of Oxford, – “Can Neuroscience Enhance Academic Achievements?” ROOM CHANGE: B18 Malet street

• Tuesday July 1st – EXTERNAL SEMINAR: Prof. Sue Gathercole, MRC-CBU, Cambridge, “Assessing and intervening in developmental disorders of working memory” ROOM CHANGE: B18 Malet street

Spring 2014

• Tuesday 21 January – Prof. Derek Bell (LEARNUS focus group, Campanula Consulting, Professor of Education in The College of Teachers, Visiting Research Associate, IoE, former head of education at Wellcome Trust): “Neuroscience and education: exploring the hinterland”

• Tuesday 4 February – Dr. Joni Holmes (MRC-CBU, Cambridge): “Working memory training with children”

• Tuesday 11 March – Dr. Angelica Ronald (Birkbeck, University of London): “What causes psychotic experiences in adolescence, and why is this important for educational neuroscience?”

• Tuesday 18 March – Jo Evershed (Director of Cauldron): “How psychology and neuroscience might inform the future of teaching and learning”

 Workshop:

• Friday 14 March: First UK Workshop on Educational Neuroscience, Clore Centre, Birkbeck College. 10am-5pm.

Autumn 2013

• Tuesday 29 October – Dr. Catherine Sebastian (Royal Holloway): “Neural bases of emotion processing in children with conduct problems: implications for education”

• Tuesday 12 November – Dr. Roberto Filippi (Anglia Ruskin University): “Shush, the teacher is speaking! A bilingual advantage in comprehending speech in noisy environments”

• Tuesday 3 December – Dr. Gaia Scerif (University of Oxford): “(How) does attentional control matter? Developmental interactions with memory and learning”

Summer 2013

• Wednesday 8 May – Jane Emerson (Emerson House): “Dyscalculia assessment and interventions – the work of Emerson House”

• Wednesday 15 May – Dr. Rachael Bedford (Institute of Psychiatry): “Studies of siblings at risk for autism”

• Wednesday 22 May – Dr. Fred Dick (Birkbeck): “Auditory processing and educational neuroscience”

• Wednesday 5 June – Dr. Stephanie Burnett (Oxford University): “Adolescent social networks”

Spring 2013

• Wednesday 30 January – Dr. Kaska Porayska-Pomsta (CEN): “Learner Modelling: what does it have to do with neuroscience in education?”

• Wednesday 6 February – Dr. Sam Wass (MRC CBU, University of Cambridge): “An overview of the effectiveness of working memory interventions”

• Wednesday 27 February – Dr. Prof. Judy Ireson (Institute of Education): “The effectiveness of teaching by ability grouping”

Autumn 2012

• Wednesday 5 September – Symposium at British Educational Research Association (BERA) conference on ‘Educational Neurosicence’: Professor Andy Tolmie and Professor Michael Thomas (CEN): “Building Communities of Engagement”.

• Wednesday 14 November – Dr. Eamon McCrory (UCL): “The neurobiology of childhood maltreatment”

• Wednesday 21 November: Professor Michael Thomas (CEN): “Current cognitive neuroscience approaches to autism”

Summer 2012

• Thursday 24 – Saturday 26 May: European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) – SIG CONFERENCE no.22: “Education and Neuroscience” – Jeffery Hall, Institute of Education, London. Keynote speakers will include Dr. Paul Howard-Jones, Professor Torkel Klingberg, Professor Terry Jernigan, Professor Michael Thomas, and Professor Fumiko Hoeft.

• Wednesday 20 June – Dr. Dagmara Annaz (Institute of Education): “Sleep related learning in children with developmental disorders”

• Wednesday 27 June – Dr. Iroise Dumotheil (Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL): “Development of social cognition during adolescence”. With Dr. Anne-Lise Goddings (UCL) as discussant.

Spring 2012

• Wednesday 29 February – Dr. Victoria Knowland (Developmental Neurocognition Lab, Birkbeck College): “The Development of Audiovisual Perception Through Primary School”.

• Wednesday 7 March – Dr. Marinella Cappelletti (Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL): “Plasticity and Ageing of the Number Brain”

• Wednesday 14 March – Dr. Liz Pellicano (Dept. Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education): “Bridging Autism, Science and Society: Moving Toward an Ethically Informed Approach to Autism Research”.

Autumn 2011

• Thursday 3 November – CEN Policy Seminar: “When to Learn What? The Brain’s Readiness to Learn at Different Ages”. This seminar will take place at 61 Whitehall. Speakers include Professor Michael Thomas (CEN): “Building Plastic Brains: Are there sensitive periods after which children’s learning abilities decline?” and Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (UCL): “The Adolescent Brain”. . The discussion panel will be chaired by Mr. Jerry Jarvis (former CEO Edexcel) and includes Mr. Timothy Cawse (Winchester School) and Professor Denis Mareschal (Birkbeck).

• Wednesday 9 November – Dr Chloe Marshall (Dept. Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education): “Modality-Dependent and -Independent Factors in the Organisation of the Signed Language Lexicon: Insights from Semantic and Phonological Fluency Tasks in BSL”

• Wednesday 16 November – Professor Michael Thomas (CEN): “What Proportion of Government Resources Should be Targeted at Early Intervention? An Overview of James Heckman’s Economic Arguments on Skill Acquisition in Society, and the Neuroscience Evidence That Supports Them”

• Thursday 8 December – Professor Bert de Smedt (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium) & Professor Andy Tolmie (CEN): “Connecting education and neuroscience: examples from the field of mathematics learning” 

Spring 2011

• Wednesday 23 March – Professor Cathy Price (Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL): “Changes in Intelligence Over the Teenage Years”

• Thursday 31 March – CEN Policy Seminar: “Kids behaving badly: How neuroscience can help.” This seminar will take place at 61 Whitehall. Speakers include Professor Norah Frederickson (UCL): “Bullying and Antisocial Behaviour in Schools: Lessons from Neuroscience”; and Dr Essi Viding (UCL): “Antisocial Behaviour in Children: Neuroscience Can Inform Prevention and Intervention”. The discussion panel includes Geoff Allen (Westfield School), Tara Deakes (Westfield School), and Professor Uta Frith (UCL)

Summer 2010

• Wednesday 23- Thursday 24 June – British Journal of Educational Psychology ‘Psychological aspects of education current trends’ conference series on Educational Neuroscience. The conference will be held at the Institute of Education, London. Keynote speakers will be Prof Usha Goswami (Director of the Cambridge Centre for Neuroscience in Education), Prof Dan Schwartz (School of Education, Stanford University), and Prof Brian Butterworth (CEN, UCL).

Spring 2010

• Saturday 1 May – CEN Symposium at AERA 2010, Denver USA: ‘A Systematic Approach to Educational Neuroscience: Research within the London-based CEN’. This symposium will be part of the Neurosciences and Education SIG.

Summer 2009

• Monday 9 June – Workshop on Educational Neuroscience and Educational Psychology. This workshop aims to generate new or improved projects around the seven themes for Educational Neuroscience: (i) Language and Literacy Development; (ii) Mathematical Development; (iii) Conceptual Development; (iv) Computational Modelling of Learning and Teaching; (v) Social Development; (vi) Emotional Development; and (vii) Attention and Executive Control. The workshop will take place at Goodenough College, Mecklenburgh Square, WC1.

Autumn 2008

• Thursday 29 October – Workshop on Concepts of Learning. This workshop will provide people working in the different core strands of CEN activity (education, computational modelling, and neuroscience) with the opportunity to hear about each others’ perspectives on the key shared issue of learning, and to exchange thoughts about potentially fruitful areas of collaboration. The workshop will take place at Goodenough College, Mecklenburgh Square, WC1.