My research interests centre on understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms that drive variability in the development of young children. I use behavioural, electrophysiological and psychophysiological techniques to investigate the development of core skills such as memory and attention. I have a particular in the early development of basic skills in children with Autism. Understanding how early emerging symptoms contribute to later strengths and difficulties both illuminates the aetiology of the condition and may highlight appropriate targets for intervention. 

I am a Senior post doctoral researcher and manage the STAARS project. I am interested in early brain development and how individual differences in infancy can affect later life. My main areas of interest are (multi)sensory processing, sensorimotor behaviours, infant sleep and early attention in neurodiverse populations. I also investigate these questions in infants with genetic disorders such as Neurofibromatosis Type 1. I use a variety of methods to explore these topics, namely EEG, eye tracking and physiological measurement. 

My research investigates the neural and micro-behavioural processes that support infants’ engagement in real-world social interactions. During my PhD, I developed techniques to record fluctuations in infant brain activity during free-flowing interactions with their caregiver. As a post-doc I will use these methods to examine how variations in early sensory processing influence the development of typical and atypical inter-personal communication.​​​

My research interests revolve broadly around studying the association between sleep and cognitive development in the first couple of years of life. I am especially interested in how we can use neuroimaging methods like functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and EEG to study the sleeping infant’s brain.