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Professional Educational, Child and Adolescent Psychology at the
UCL Institute of Education
The programme team consists of the Programme Director, Year Coordinators, Research Coordinators, Programme Administrators and Tutors. All of the Educational Psychologists (EPs) within the programme team, work for part of their time as applied EPs in Local Authorities, some of whom are qualified EPs.
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Meet The Programme Team
The programme team consists of the Programme Director, Year Coordinators, Research Coordinators and Tutors. All of the Educational Psychologists (EPs) within the programme team, work for part of their time as applied EPs in Local Authorities, some of whom are qualified EPs.
Vivan Hill
Programme Director
Vivian is the Director of Professional Educational Training and has overall responsibility for the management of the programme. Recently, in March 2020, Vivian was asked to lead the BPS Covid-19 Co-ordinating Group's Isolation and Confinement work strand.
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Her areas of interest include the links between emotional development and experience on cognitive development and learning, attachment theory, the educational experiences of children in public care, Autism Spectrum conditions, specific learning difficulties, equal opportunities and well-being.
Melernie Meheux
Tutor and
Year 1 Coordinator
Melernie works for Luton Borough Council. Her professional interests include attachment, the social, emotional and mental health of children and young people. She supports children who have been excluded or who are at risk of permanent social exclusion.
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Melernie is also a qualified Play Therapist and incorporates this into her EP practice.
Cynthia Pinto
Tutor and
Year 1 Coordinator
Cynthia is a Senior Educational Psychologist in the London Borough of Hillingdon, where she is involved in the local THRIVE network. She is an associate member of the DECP.
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Cynthia is particularly interested in the social, emotional and mental health of children and young people. She delievers the FRIENDS intervention in schools and has began to use the Sandwell Whole School Approach to Well-Being. Specifically, her research examines the peer relationships of pupils with SEN.
Helen Upton
Tutor and
Year 2 Coordinator
Helen is a Senior Educational Psychologist for the Wandsworth EPS. She has also worked as an Educational Psychologist in Hong Kong. Helen is trained in Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) and is also a British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) instructor and mindfulness teacher, which she incorporates into her work as an EP. Helen is a past member and ex-chair of the DECP training committee.
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Her areas of interest include the social and emotional development of children and young people, person-centred ways of working and quality standards in EP practice.
Nicola Mollet
Tutor and
Year 3 Coordinator
Nicola is a Senior Educational Psychologist in Surrey County Council.
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Her areas of interest include the role of family and has completed a certificate in Family Therapy. Nicola has co-developed a Sure Start Parent Group in the community offering support in thinking about children's learning through play.
Ed Baines
Senior Lecturer and Research Coordinator
Ed is an experienced researcher having undertaken a range of funded research projects in school settings. He has undertaken studies focusing on teaching, learning and grouping practices in schools; collaborative group work; peer relations and friendships in school; longitudinal research on school break times. Ed has worked extensively with teachers and pupils in school classrooms to develop evidence-based practices in terms of group learning and has many publications within these areas.
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Ed has substantial expertise in the use of systematic observational research methods and mixed methods research generally. He coordinates the thesis module and the two research modules covering quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research. He also teaches on other courses in the department.
University Tutors
Will Matthews
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Programme Administrator
Gemma Atkinson
Camden Educational Psychology Service
Gemma is Clinical Lead in Camden Local Authority’s Transformation Team (a multi-disciplinary early help service supporting families with complex needs). Gemma brings psychoanalytic and systemic thinking into her practice and is passionate about promoting positive mental health and wellbeing. Within Camden, Gemma is the link EP for working with Refugee and Asylum Seeking children and is also a member of the ELSA Team; providing training and supervision for new and qualified ELSAs across the borough.
Chris Bagley
Chris has practised as an EP in a London 'Youth Offending Team', supporting vulnerable young people with experience of trauma and marginalisation. He has developed an understanding of the complex intersection between race, gender, education and the youth justice system. Chris' academic research explores social exclusion (or managed moves) and proposes more inclusive approaches.
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He is the Director of Research at States of Mind; a social enterprise whose purpose it is to establish the impact of schooling on students' psychological wellbeing and co-develop alternative education futures, directed by young people.
Laura Carroll
Laura completed her training at the Institute of Education in 2011 and now works at The Children's Trust - the national residential neurorehabilitation centre for children who have experienced or acquired brain injury. Here, alongside the multidisciplinary neurorehabilitation team and the national outreach team, Laura supports children, families, local schools and professionals.
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Laura's areas of interest include acquired brain injury, neuropsychological assessment and multi-disciplinary formulation, cognitive rehabilitation, brain development, narrative therapy approaches, video interactive guidance, positive behaviour support and managing anxiety in children with tracheostomy and other medical needs.
Chris Clarke
Aquila Diocese of Canterbury Academies Trust, Kent
After working for Kent Educational Psychology Service for 6 years, Chris moved over to a multi-academy trust and now delivers psychological support for children, schools and families in 20 schools.
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Chris' interests include Autism, neuropsychological perspectives of children's development, literacy and psychological supervision, especially for senior leaders in schools.
Shaun Clifford
Hertfordshire Children's Services
Shaun's professional interests include supervision and peer mentoring, solution-focused thinking and Video Interaction Guidance and/or Video Enhanced Reflections on Practice.
Mark Coates
London Borough of Islington
Mark is a main grade Educational Psychologist in Islington, with a specific interest in the experiences of young people in local authority care, particularly around factors that support their progress and contribute to the positive outcomes for this group.
Tom Connor
London Borough of Merton
Tom works as the Principal Educational Psychologist in Merton. Tom has previously worked in roles connected with teenagers at risk of exclusion and Autism Spectrum Conditions.
Alicia Crane
Richmond and Kingston
Alicia is an Educational Psychologist for Achieving for Children (AfC) Richmond and Kingston. She is part of the Early Bird parenting programme facilitators team.
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Alicia's areas of interest include transparency and equality, where her research focuses on the accessibility of psychological reports.
Nicholas English
London Borough of Sutton
Nicholas is the Principal Educational Psychologist in Sutton and has an interest in Autism Spectrum Conditions and emotional support literacy assistants (ELSA's).
Vicki Evans
London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Vicki currently takes a lead role in the area of Early Years and also manages the Portage Service. Her professional interests include developing EP practice in working with children and young people with autism and developing practice in the areas of consultation, narrative and solution-focused ways of working.
Emma Gore-Langton
Enfield Educational Psychology Service
Emma is the Senior Specialist Educational Psychologist for Social, Emotional and Mental Health in Enfield. Prior to this she developed and led the Education Service at PAC-UK (formerly the Post Adoption Centre). Emma is especially interested in supporting schools to develop trauma-informed practice. She is also interested in therapeutic parenting and professional learning.
Amanda Holgate
London Borough of Islington
Amanda is a Senior Educational Psychologist in Islington with responsibility for managing the Educational Psychology Service delivery in the early years. She has a special interest in supervision, and also in supporting the development of children with Autistic Spectrum Condition and with speech, language and communication needs, particularly in early years settings.
Frances Lee
Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
Frances is the Principal Educational Psychologist in AFC Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. Frances’ research and professional interests include mental health and wellbeing, evidence-based therapeutic approaches, the processes and impact of reflective supervision and person-centred approaches. She is also the Deputy Chair of the DECPTC training committee.
Shona MacGregor
London Borough of Lambeth
Shona’s professional interests include learning/assessment issues in relation to bilingual children and the needs of refugee and asylum-seeking pupils who have experienced trauma. Shona is currently involved in an SEN and ethnicity research project in Lambeth.
Karen Majors
Karen is a Professional Educational Psychology Tutor and Educational Psychologist. She is a therapeutic play practitioner and offers Educational Psychology consultation and therapeutic play to schools. Her role at IOE involves teaching and research supervision. Karen’s academic and professional interests include children’s social relationships and use of social media, play and imaginary companions, and mental health and well-being. She is interested in qualitative research including Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
Jey Monsen
Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea EPCS
Jey is Principle Educational and Child Psychologist
Hannah Parnes
Islington Educational Psychology Service
Before training as an EP, Hannah worked for London Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) for many years, and her research explored the potential to improve multi-agency practice between EPs and YOT staff. Hannah is interested in social, emotional and mental health needs. She has worked with Islington’s pupil referral unit, including their medical provision, for several years. She has been involved in Islington’s trauma informed schools initiative and emotional based school refusal working group.
Hester Riviere
Oxfordshire Educational Psychology Service
Hester also works as a main grade EP with an independent group of colleagues in schools in Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and neighbouring counties.
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Hester's professional interests are in attachment and developmental trauma, how these impact on children’s experiences in education, and how school staff can best be supported to work with children with these complex emotional needs.
Adam Rossello
Kingston and Richmond
Adam is a Specialist Educational Psychologist for the inclusion of children and young people who are at risk of, and/or are already, missing education.
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His other interests include delivering staff and parent training on a wide variety of topics and supporting school staff to understand the communication behind children's behaviour.
Karen Schumacher
London Borough of Wandsworth
Karen works for Wandsworth Schools & Community Psychology Service. Her areas of interest include early child development, the needs of children with complex and profound learning difficulties and mindfulness. She has a teaching background in English as an Additional Language and is particularly interested in developments in the support offered to refugees and asylum seekers.
Sarah Taylor-Whiteway
London Borough of Wandsworth
Sarah trained in Lambeth, Croydon and Tower Hamlets and has worked in Wandsworth since qualifying. Her specific interests lie in supporting systemic change in schools, narrative approaches and using supervision in schools. She is excited about a national shift towards supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and the way EPs, as a profession, can be involved in this change.