Our labs
The Centre for Child and Adolescent Development is a vibrant and collaborative research community, dedicated to understanding the complexities of child and adolescent growth.
We are home to five pioneering labs, each led by world-renowned experts and focused on different aspects of developmental science—from brain development and learning to mental health, family relationships, and early life experiences.
Together, these labs form a multidisciplinary hub that drives innovation, informs policy, and supports the wellbeing of children and young people across the globe.
The Centre for Child and Adolescent Development is a vibrant and collaborative research community, dedicated to understanding the complexities of child and adolescent growth.
We are home to five pioneering labs, each led by world-renowned experts and focused on different aspects of developmental science—from brain development and learning to mental health, family relationships, and early life experiences.
Together, these labs form a multidisciplinary hub that drives innovation, informs policy, and supports the wellbeing of children and young people across the globe.
Blakemore lab
The Blakemore lab runs The Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Group and is headed by Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore.
This group focuses on adolescent mental health and the development of social cognition, peer influence and decision making in the adolescent brain.
Centre for Neuroscience in Education
The Centre for Neuroscience in Education is headed by Professor Usha Goswami and Professor Dénes Szücs.
They study how children's brains develop the skills needed for learning, by looking at related abilities like language, memory, and attention, and how brain development can differ in children with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, and language disorders.
Fearon lab
The Fearon lab is headed by Professor Pasco Fearon and undertakes both large-scale, longitudinal studies and clinical trials.
Key studies in this lab include:
Early Life Cohort Feasibility Study
SUNRISE programme (Burkina Faso)
Hughes lab
The Hughes lab is headed by Professor Claire Hughes and studies children’s relationships within and outside the family in relation to their developing socio-cognitive skills, parent-infant interactions in early childhood, and young children’s transitions to school.
Current studies include the Ready Or Not studies in the UK, Hong Kong and China, and the SHAPE Study.
Johnson/Lloyd-Fox lab
The Johnson/Lloyd-Fox lab is headed by Professor Mark Johnson and Dr Sarah Lloyd-Fox, and studies brain and cognitive development during pregnancy, infancy and early childhood.