Fully funded PhD place at ISEY - Institute for the Science of Early Years and Youth at UEL

A funded PhD position is available at the Institute for the Science of Early Years and Youth (ISEY), University of East London, to address a fundamental question in developmental science: how does shared reading between caregivers and young children support early learning, and what are the interpersonal neural mechanisms that underpin these benefits?

Shared reading is one of the strongest predictors of children's early language, literacy and cognitive development. Through shared books, children are exposed to new vocabulary, more complex language structures, as well as reciprocal interactions with adults. Experimental research has shown that interventions promoting caregiver-child book sharing can improve children's subsequent language outcome and attention skills.

Shared reading is a dynamic, interactive process. Caregivers continuously adapt their speech, gaze, gestures and pacing in response to children's attention and behaviour. These moment-to-moment adjustments may create optimal opportunities for learning by helping children attend to, process and retain new information. The temporal coordination of adult behaviour and infant's neural activity may therefore be a key mechanism through which shared reading supports development.

The PhD project aims to move beyond quantity-based measures of shared reading to investigate the neural mechanisms through which caregiver-child interactions support learning. The project will address the following questions:

- How do caregivers and children coordinate their behaviour during shared reading, and which features of this interaction create optimal opportunities for learning?
- How does moment-to-moment neural activity, measured using dual-brain EEG, become coordinated between caregivers and children during shared reading?
- How does interpersonal neural coordination relate to children's attention, engagement and learning during shared reading?
- How do the timing and quality of shared reading interactions predict children's subsequent learning and developmental outcomes?

By integrating measures of behaviour, attention and dual-brain neural activity, the project will provide a mechanistic account of how shared reading supports early learning. Combining state-of-the-art caregiver-child EEG recordings with fine-grained measures of interaction will help reveal how learning emerges through real-time coordination between two people, providing new insights into the processes through which early shared experiences shape children's development.

The PhD will be based at ISEY at the Stratford Campus of The University of East London. The research institute is led by Prof. Sam Wass, and the PhD will be supervised by Dr Ira Marriott Haresign. The successful candidate will work within a wider team of 20 researchers at ISEY.

Knowledge exchange and dissemination will be a key part of this PhD. The successful candidate will be expected to share project findings and associated research with teachers and early years practitioners, as part of the training and development services that ISEY offers. This may involve writing articles for educator-facing publications, attending early years events, and running online and face-to-face training.

Requirements:

- A first or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree, preferably with a Masters in a relevant discipline (e.g. psychology, computer science, educational psychology, media analysis).
- Experience working with children is highly desirable.
- Familiarity with programming and data analysis tools is preferable; the PhD will involve advanced quantitative data analysis, though support will be given.
- Interest in auditory or visual attention, speech and language processing, arousal, and EEG.
- Willingness to use custom-built wearable devices and analyse multi-streamed timeseries (physiological and behavioural day-long recordings).
- Familiarity with eye-tracking and EEG, and associated data analysis tools, is highly desirable.
- Willingness to be based at the ISEY lab in Stratford, London, for at least 50% of the time; during data collection periods, daily attendance in London may be required.

The project may also consider use of the newly developed virtual reality and motion tracking lab at ISEY.

Funding covers tuition fees (approximately £5,000–£8,000 per year) and a stipend at the ESRC/UKRI rate for London Universities. Full-time stipend: £22,780 per annum. Part-time study is based on 0.6 FTE with a stipend of £13,668, lasting up to 5 years.

Please note: the funding does not cover the higher tuition fees required for international students. Only applicants classified as UK/home students (including UK nationals and those with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme) can be considered, unless self-funding.