Dr Rhiannon Thomas

Research Fellow

Background

Dr Rhiannon Thomas has a background in Developmental Psychology and has conducted research with a broad range of ages, from infancy to adulthood. She completed her PhD in 2013, which explored the influence that learned semantic associations had on processing of current audio-visual stimuli. Subsequently she worked at Goldsmiths College as a Postdoctoral Research Associate and InfantLab Coordinator. At Goldsmiths her research programme focused on how infants and children relate distally presented stimuli, to touch stimuli presented on their bodies (hands).

Dr Thomas has been part of the Move2Learn project since 2017, working as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Education, UCL. She continues her work with the Move2Learn project, joining the University of Edinburgh as a Research Fellow. 

Her research explores how embodied learning theory and research on gestural communication can help inform the design of STEM learning experiences for children, and in turn help support multimodal forms of discourse around these.  

Qualifications

PhD, 'Use of background knowledge in resolving audiovisual conflicts across childhood', Birbeck College, University of London, 2014

MSc, Psychological Research Methods, Birbeck College, University of London, 2009

BA(Hons) Experimental Psychology, St Hugh's College, University of Oxford, 2008