Research Students (MPhil & PhD)
Sonia White a PhD student and Secondary Mathematics Teacher. She completed a BEd (Hons I) and BAppSci as undergraduate degrees at Queensland University of Technology, Australia and an MPhil in Educational Research at University of Cambridge. Prior to her studies at the University of Cambridge, Sonia worked for three years in an independent secondary college in Brisbane, Australia, teaching Mathematics and Science. Her research area focuses on understanding the mental representations within the brain that are associated with numeric calculations. This current project is working with children aged 6-8 years and analyses a human's innate 'number sense'. Sonia has a keen interest in applying these findings to enhance mathematics pedagogies during foundation learning.
Paula Guardia is a PhD student at the Centre. She received her Masters in Educational Psychology from Catholic University of Chile in 2003. Her thesis topic was the relationship between emergent literacy abilities and reading in Chilean children. Paula's PhD research investigates the relations between phonological awareness, rapid naming and reading development from kindergarten to first grade in Spanish speakers.
Jennifer Green is a PhD student working under the supervision of Professor Goswami. Her project focuses on the effects of number-colour synaesthesia (seeing numbers as having colour) on numerical processing in children. Before starting the PhD she completed an M.Ed. in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, also focusing on synaesthesia and number. Prior to gaining her Masters, she received her first degree in Journalism from the University of Georgia in the United States. Herself a synaesthete, Jennifer is interested in the ways in which the condition can impact cognition and learning.
Sarah Killing is a PhD student supervised by Professor Goswami. Her project concerns reading disability in garden variety poor readers. Before entering into a PhD at the University of Cambridge she completed an MSc in Research Methods in Psychology at Oxford University and a BSc in Psychology at University College London. Sarah is a qualified special needs teacher but now wishes to focus on research into reading disability and is specifically interested in auditory temporal processing in garden variety poor readers.
Donna Bryce is currently an MPhil student on the Educational Research course having been awarded an ESRC 1+3 Studentship to complete a PhD. She completed a BSc (Hons) in Psychology at the University of Durham in 2005 and worked as a research assistant in an Educational Psychology Service before coming to Cambridge. Donna's research focuses on the early development of metacognition and executive functions, using event-related potentials to examine changes in the brain during development.
John Verney studied at the Northern School of Music in Manchester, Chester College of Education and Newcastle University. He was awarded a B.Phil higher research degree for his dissertation on composition work with young violinists in 1990. John was previously an advisory teacher and assistant head of Northumberland County Music Service, and has written articles in music teaching and early years publications on linking music to early literacy and in composition. In recent years he has given workshops at conferences and universities in the UK, Minnesota, and Switzerland on the use of music to help children with early literacy skills. During his PhD John aims to investigate how a teaching strategy pairing music and literacy can enhance performance in rhyme predictability and segmentation in children aged 4-5 years old.
Hsiao-Lan Wang is a PhD student supervised by Professor Usha Goswami. Her research examines the behavioural characteristics and neural mechanisms of dyslexia in Chinese. Hsiao-Lan received her MEd from the Mind, Brain and Education program at Harvard University. Before coming to Cambridge, Hsiao-Lan worked as a research assistant in the advanced biomedical MRI Lab at National Taiwan University Hospital.
Susan Richards is currently studying for an MEd in Educational Research, having been awarded a 1+3 ESRC studentship to complete a PhD. Susan originally studied Modern Languages at Worcester College, Oxford, then trained as a Speech and Language Therapist, completing an MMedSci at Sheffield University. She had four years experience of working as a Speech and Language Therapist, specialising in working with children with specific speech and language impairments, before returning to university study. Susan is interested in investigating links between musical and linguistic processing in children with specific language impairment.
Yi-Fang Hsu is a PhD student. Before coming to Cambridge she completed her MEd and BEd in Educational Psychology and Counselling at National Taiwan Normal University. She is interested in the synergy of education, psychology, and neuroscience. Her current research focuses on the
Event-related Potential (ERP) correlates of numerical processing in developmental dyscalculia.