University of East London
Fully funded PhD place at ISEY - Institute for the Science of Early Years and Youth at UEL
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Location
Stratford Campus
Salary
Funding covers tuition fees (approx £5-8k per year) and a stipend set at the ESRC/UKRI rate for London Universities (£22,780 p.a) if studying full time.
Part time study is based on 0.6FTE and the stipend will be adjusted accordingly (£13,668), lasting for up to 5 years.
Post Type
Full Time
Closing Date
Friday 20 November 2026
Reference
PHD004-26
Fully funded PhD place at ISEY - Institute for the Science of Early Years and Youth at UEL “How engagement with complex screen media is reshaping early cognitive development and attention systems”
Unfortunately, we cannot accept international applications, unless self-funded, for this PhD
The Project
A funded PhD position is available 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.
Currently, however, we understand very little about how learning unfolds moment-to-moment during these interactions, and how underlying neural mechanisms support later developmental outcomes.
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. By Addressing 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?
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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 University and ISEY
The PhD will be based at The Institute for the Science of Early Years and Youth ISEY, at the Stratford Campus of The University of East London. This research institute is led by Prof. Sam Wass, and the PhD will be supervised by Dr Ira Marriott Haresign. The successful candidate would be working within a wider team of 20 researchers at ISEY.
Knowledge exchange and dissemination will be a key part of this PhD and 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. Therefore, this role is especially suitable for someone passionate about bridging the gap between research and practice and translating research for a non-scientific audience. This may involve writing articles for educator-facing publications, attending early years events and running online and face to face training, support will be given in these areas.
The applicant
The PhD candidate must have a first or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree and preferably a Masters in a discipline relevant to the project. While we expect that this project would suit graduates from a psychology background, we are happy to receive applications from a range of backgrounds that have potential to enhance the project (e.g. computer science, education psychology, media analysis...)
Experience working with children is highly desirable. Familiarity with programming and data analysis tools is also preferable as the PhD will involve advanced quantitative data analysis, although support will be given in this area.
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Successful applicants should have an interest in auditory or visual attention, speech and language processing, arousal, and EEG.
Methods
The successful candidates will also potentially use our custom-built wearable devices and be willing to analyse multi-streamed timeseries (physiological and behavioural day-long recordings).
Familiarity with eye-tracking and EEG is also highly desirable, as is experience with associated data analysis tools.
ISEY also has a newly developed virtual reality and motion tracking lab and this project may also consider the use of these methods to address the research questions.
Whilst some remote work is possible, the successful candidate will need to be willing to be based at the ISEY lab, in Stratford, London for at least 50% of the time. During data collection periods PhD students may need to be in London every day.
Please note that we are drawing all applicants’ attention to the fact that unfortunately, the funding available for this project does not cover the higher tuition fees required for international students. As a result, we are only able to consider applicants who would be classified as UK/home students (including UK nationals and those with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme). If you are an international student, I’m afraid we will be unable to proceed with your application unless you are self-funding.
How To Apply
Applications must be submitted by email to I.Marriott-haresign@uel.ac.uk by the 20th November 2026. Interviews are likely to take place in December.
Please send your CV along with the names and contact details of two referees who will be contacted directly. At least one of the references must be academic. Please also include a personal statement/cover letter (no more than 1000 words) which demonstrates your motivation and readiness for undertaking a PhD and for this specific PhD project.
Funding details and start dates
The PhD can start in January 2027.
Funding covers tuition fees (approx £5-8k per year) and a stipend set at the ESRC/UKRI rate for London Universities (£22,780 p.a) if studying full time. Part time study is based on 0.6FTE and the stipend will be adjusted accordingly (£13,668), lasting for up to 5 years.
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