UCL-led team wins contract for new educational neuroscience centre

The project will build on 18 years’ experience in educational neuroscience by the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) and Birkbeck Centre for Educational Neuroscience (CEN). Designed to directly inform policymakers with robust evidence, the new centre will combine expertise from nine universities, with specialisms ranging from educational neuroscience and cognitive psychology, to applied classroom practice, genetics, and AI. Team members include former fellows for the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) and Select Committee members. 

UCL Consultants was selected as the preferred bidder following a competitive process that assessed against criteria such as the ability to deliver both research and rapid evidence synthesis, the capability to translate knowledge into policy and practice, and reach across school networks in England. This was supported by UCL Consultants’ robust project management capabilities and experience of delivering complex, multi-party projects.

UCL Consultants is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UCL, representing in this instance a consortium led by Professor Jo Van Herwegen and Professor Denis Mareschal, co-directors of the UCL IOE and Birkbeck Centre for Educational Neuroscience (CEN).

Strengthening the role of educational neuroscience

Rather than ad hoc research commissioning, the DfE wanted a single centre to run a two‑year programme that builds a strategic evidence base, helping to address key themes that relate to learning from early years through to higher education. 

Educational neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field that sits at the intersection of brain science, psychology, and education. Its goal is to understand how the brain learns, and then use that knowledge to improve teaching methods, learning environments, and educational outcomes.

The new centre will consolidate existing knowledge to inform policy, and spend a third of its time providing rapid-response analysis for emerging priorities, providing evidence on key topics within a short timeframe.

The consortium members will interrogate questions relevant to learning and education today, from how cognitive and biological factors may enable us to identify children with special educational needs early on, to the impact of AI-enhanced technology in home and school learning environments.

Using research to inform education policy

This is an opportunity to bring together experts within the field, to synthesise the knowledge we’ve got and bring it out, with a direct route to policy and practice,” Professor Van Herwegen of UCL explained. “It’s exciting that policymakers are interested in research evidence. It’s clear to see in terms of the questions they ask. They want to come together with academics to find solutions together.”

As well as strengthening links with academia and building an ongoing body of work, the centre will emphasise the role of early career researchers. Seven postdoctoral researchers will be hired to work at the new centre, and students studying the MSc Educational Neuroscience at Birkbeck and UCL will also be involved. This is part of a wider commitment to ensure future expertise in the subject, both in the UK and globally.

“Educational neuroscience has reached a level of maturity as a discipline,” Professor Mareschal of Birkbeck said. “At CEN we’ve been doing this for 18 years, bringing together what we’ve learned from brain sciences – how the brain works, how learning happens in the brain, and what lessons can we draw from that to improve the delivery of educational practice. This new centre will act as a bridge between cognitive neuroscientists, educational practitioners, and policymakers – to directly inform policy and practice.”

Research centres: a new approach

The new educational neuroscience research centre, alongside a further UCL-led centre in education economics, is being launched as part of a wider government focus on the future of education.

Early Education Minister Olivia Bailey said: “Decisions should of course be rooted in what the evidence tells us actually works for children and young people.  

“These new centres will help us do exactly that – bringing together some of the best minds in the country to make sure our reforms on SEND, early years, and children’s mental health are built on solid foundations, and that we understand the long-term value of the choices we make.” 

Consortium members

UCL leads the consortium of the following institutions:

• Professor Joel Talcott from Aston University
• Professor Denis Mareshal, Dr Emma Meaburn from Birkbeck, University of London
• Professor Paul Howard-Jones from University of Bristol
• Professor Usha Goswami from University of Cambridge (represented by Cambridge Advisory and Technical Services)
• Professor John Spencer from University of East Anglia (represented by UEA Consulting Ltd)
• Professor Sam Wass from University of East London
• Professor Gaia Scerif from University of Oxford
• Professor Emily Farran from University of Surrey
• Professor Jo Van Herwegen, Professor Kaska Porayska-Pomsta, Dr Rebecca Gordon, Dr Laura Outhwaite and Dr Tim Morris from UCL