Research Experience Opportunities

**Please note that due to the current COVID-19 situation research opportunities are very limited at the moment. But you can still register your interest and you will be contacted as soon as we have an opportunity available for you.**

1902: Babies’ Language Development

This research project investigates early language development in babies. Working on this project will involve: recruitment of participants, guided experiment design and implementation, running experiments, codification of the data obtained from experiments, guided result analysis. You will be fully trained in using the eye tracker, administering the experiment, and in the necessary data analysis techniques.

Student level: Open to undergraduate or MSc students

Duration: 1 to 6 months

Start date: TBC

Responsible researcher: Dr. Nayeli Gonzalez-Gomez, ngonzalez-gomez@brookes.ac.uk

Website: http://psych.brookes.ac.uk/babylab/

1904 Spelling and writing in children with and without developmental dyslexia

This project investigates how children with dyslexia differ from typically-developing children regarding spelling ability and writing speed. The main duties will include contacting schools to invite them to participate, assist with data collection, selecting experimental materials and/or analysing measures of the process and product of writing. You will gain knowledge of cutting-edge methodologies used in the study of writing production and experience working with children for research purposes. Degree of involvement in some tasks may be commensurate with previous experience. A DBS certificate may be required to participate in data collection.

Student level: Open to undergraduates or MSc students

Duration: Negotiable

Start date: Negotiable; offered during academic term only

Responsible researcher: Dr Olivia Afonso, afonso.o@brookes.ac.uk

More information: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/psychology/research/groups/developmental-psychology/writing-research-group/

1905 Writing in English as an additional language

In this project the writing performance of adult learners of English as an additional language will be assessed to determine how the characteristics of the first language influence our acquisition of a new orthography. Research experience in this project may include recruiting participants, assisting with data collection or selecting experimental materials and/or analysing measures of the process and product of writing. You will learn novel techniques for the analysis of writing responses and will become familiar with theoretical perspectives and experimental methods used in psycholinguistics. Degree of involvement in some tasks may be commensurate with previous experience.

Student level: Open to undergraduates or MSc students

Duration: Negotiable

Start date: Negotiable

Responsible researcher: Dr Olivia Afonso, afonso.o@brookes.ac.uk

More information: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/psychology/research/groups/developmental-psychology/writing-research-group/

1906 Analysing children's writing using CBM-W

As part of a longitudinal study, children from three primary schools completed a battery of writing assessments in school to assess the development of writing over the course of an academic year. Students will help with transcribing the children's handwritten short stories (collected at three time points) and then analysing the stories using fluency and accuracy criteria taken from the Curriculum Based Measures in Writing assessment tool. This assessment tool is used for tracking small changes in children's writing and the indices produced correlate strongly with more conventional writing assessment indices such as compositional quality. The ideal candidate should have be a fluent English speaker, have great attention to detail, be familiar with confidentiality of research data and not be afraid to ask questions (sometimes we all have no idea what word the child was trying to write!).

Student level: Any

Duration : 2 months+

Start date: Anytime

Responsible Researcher : Kirsty Walter ( kwalter@brookes.ac.uk )

1907 CLEO: Catalysing Local Energy Origination

The purpose of this project is to measure, understand, and geographically map support and opposition for onshore wind turbines in local areas so that we can (1) better understand how people think about local wind turbines in order to overcome obstacles to their deployment, and (2) assist local communities and other decision-makers by publicly sharing information about how specific communities view wind turbines.

The UK government’s recent energy strategy (UK Government, 2022) recognizes that onshore wind is “one of the cheapest forms of renewable power” but aims to expand it in England only rather carefully, in a “limited number of supportive communities” showing “strong local backing” and without changing currently very restrictive planning laws. The government will consult this year to “consider how clear support can be demonstrated by local communities.”

This project is basic social science research, for example testing hypotheses about demographic factors associated with support, and experimentally testing the effects of different styles of messaging around wind turbines, advancing theories within environmental psychology. At the same time, this project aims to achieve the directly practical goals of mapping and publicly releasing data on support for local wind turbines in specific local communities, with the aims that this data can (1) assist local communities with their own decision making; (2) assist renewable energy suppliers with finding supportive communities; (3) feed into the government consultation.

Student level: Any

Duration : 1 month+

Start date: Summer 2022

Responsible Researcher : Ben Kenward (bkenward@brookes.ac.uk)