Despite the process of learning often being studied individually, learning is often done with other people. We learn this way throughout life, from our younger years to older age. Ageing is associated with changes to cognitive abilities, which in turn affect the ability to storage and recall (new) information. However, the support and social aspect of learning with another person, such as a spouse, might benefit older adults' learning performance. As such, I investigate under what circumstances older adults learn better with another person versus alone; it may be that this benefit depends on the (existing) relationship between learning partners or the materials used. To learn more about this, my research focuses on the various aspects of collaborative learning, such as task performance but also on the interaction between pairs, such as the words they use or different strategies.

In addition to collaborative learning, I am also interested in other ways that older adults might be able to improve or maintain their ability to learn, including whether implicit learning is maintained or improved throughout older age.

Ongoing projects (updated: October 2025)

• Working alongside Prof Sarah MacPherson, Dr Paul Hoffman, Dr Catherine Crompton and Dr Tanvi Patel, our Leverhulme-funded project investigated under which circumstances older adults would benefit from collaborative learning. Within this project, we have explored different learning partners, different environments and various types of learning. This project concluded its data collection in Summer 2025, with data currently being prepared for analysis (updated: October 2025). The project contains 4 studies, of which one is a systematic review on this topic, published in 2023 in Royal Society Open Science.

• I am currently working on a project with Professor Sarah MacPherson and Dr Mauro Dragone on collaborative learning with social robots, for which experimental data collection has finished in August 2024. The project is currently collecting qualitative data via focus groups.

• Using Gorilla Experiment Builder, Dr Matthew Johnston, Prof Sarah MacPherson and I have designed a fully online version of a common collaborative learning task that can be used globally to collect data from complex populations. The project is nearing its data collection phase.

• Rather than collaborative learning, our Carnegie-funded project  investigates statistical learning in older adults, using a novel task to study how older adults are able to extract patterns from their environment when unprompted. This project, done with PI Dr Matthew Johnston, has completed its data collection and analysis and is currently being written up for publication. 
  
  

Existing research has made clear that older adults benefit from learning socially. However, not everyone has a spouse, family member or friend (nearby) to learn with and support their cognitive functioning. To this end, I am interested in applying robotics to support cognitive ageing socially. For example, using a robot to complete tasks and problem-solve.

Ongoing projects (updated: October 2025)

• I am currently working on a project with Professor Sarah MacPherson and Dr Mauro Dragone on collaborative learning with social robots, for which experimental data collection has finished in August 2024. The project is currently collecting qualitative data via focus groups (updated: October 2025). 

• Working alongside Prof Thusha Rajendran and Ria Rale, our current project explores how people's general tendency to trust is related to their trust in social robots of varying levels of humanoid appearance. We are current collecting observational data for this project, and our preregistration can be found here (updated: October 2025).
  
  If you are interested in collaborating on a project that focuses on social robotics, please get in touch.

In my research, I aim to be as transparent as possible about my justifications, expectations, methods and results. To this end, I apply Open Science principles throughout my work. Almost all of my projects have been preregistered prior to data collection, with a large number of works also published as Registered Reports. My study data and scripts are available on Open Science Framework where possible, including manuscripts and additional materials. I also share any slides or materials from talks and presentations on OSF. I am always happy to answer questions on how to incorporate Open Science principles into research, or any questions about my work.

Ongoing projects (updated: October 2025)

• Working in a multi-lab team, Prof Miro Sirota, Prof Marie Juanchich and I conducted a replication study using a sure versus risky choice paradigm. This study is included in a large project that assesses the replicability of the social and behavioral sciences, led by Brian Nosek. The current stage of the project cannot be disclosed but is ongoing.

• Dr Rachael Hulme and I are collecting data for a multi-lab project on mapping and increasing error correction behaviour in a culturally diverse sample. The project's preregistration and preprint are available online.

Life is accompanied by a variety of risks, from physical to financial. How different types of risk affect us changes with age, as some risks (physical) become more consequential than they were, or may have seemed, before. Despite the general assumption that older adults are risk averse, studies often find that older people do take risks, both in experimental settings and in daily life. So what drives these age differences in risky decisions? I am interested in whether age differences in risk-taking and risk perception are due to people's individual preference towards risk, or changes to cognitive abilities that may affect how we view and experience risk. 

If this is a topic that interests you, I recommend my 2021 publication on age differences and risky behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic.