Institute of Education London

Psychology and Human Development (PHD)

Head of Department Professor Jackie Masterson

The Department of Psychology and Human Development (PHD) brings together staff with research and teaching interests that encompass psychological approaches to learning, development and teaching from early childhood to adulthood.

It is the only university department within the discipline in the UK devoted to work in developmental psychology, particularly as regards its application to education and other real-world settings.


Current and recent research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and a wide range of other bodies, includes:

• school organisational contexts for learning
• language, literacy and numeracy
• teaching processes and pedagogy
• learning processes
• social and emotional competence
• special educational needs.

Special Educational Needs Joint Initiative for Training (SENJIT), a training collaboration with 40 local authorities, is situated within the department.

Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE), was established within the department in 2009 through generous support from:
The Clothworkers' Foundation, Pears Foundation and Ambitious about Autism.

Centre for Educational Neuroscience (CEN). The Department is a major contributor to the joint IOE/UCL/Birkbeck Centre for Educational Neuroscience.