The Nurture Lab

Investigating the role of family and school in children’s socio-emotional development and mental health whilst considering the interplay of genetics and experience.

About us

The Nurture Lab conducts interdisciplinary research to better understand the role of children’s family and school experiences for development.

Our work uses approaches from family and school psychology, intervention, behavioural genetics, and machine learning. We address questions such as:

  • How do family dynamics influence socio-emotional development?
  • How can schools and families work together to improve children’s mental health and wellbeing?
  • What part do genetics play in children’s experience?
  • How can we advance our methodologies to diversify and expand family research and practice?
  • Why do interventions work for some and not others?
  • How can AI/machine learning approaches help broaden reach of research and intervention? 

Lab members

Directors

Current and associate members

  • Dr Liz Halstead, UCL IOE
  • Dr Rachel Latham, King’s College London
  • Dr Patty Leijten, University of Amsterdam
  • Dr Emma Meaburn, Birkbeck, University of London
  • Dr Katie Mark, King’s College London
  • Professor Alison Pike, University of Sussex
  • Dr Matt Somerville, UCL IOE

PhD students

  • Susie Peter (ESRC: UCL, Somerville & Oliver)
  • Nisa Rainy (Bloomsbury studentship: Birkbeck, Meaburn & Oliver)
  • Abigail Thomson (ERSC: Queen Mary University of London, Hosang & Oliver)
  • Elise Sellars (ESRC: University of Oxford; Bowes & Oliver)

Researchers

  • Georgia Cronshaw
  • Sarah Dolaty
  • Dr Jasmine Raw 

Alumni

  • Dr Pinar Acet
  • Dr Abigail Burgess
  • Meghan Pick
  • Olivia Riddle
  • Michelle Sargent     
  • Min Jun Choong
  • Laura Farley
  • Zelal Gulbahce
  • Grace Hill
  • Dr Alex Martin
  • Celestine Lockhart
  • Maria Sifaki
  • Lily Strange
  • Teresa Yung

Key collaborations

Research projects

Selected projects

Twins Family and Behaviour Study (TFaB)

Bonamy Oliver and Alison Pike

TFaB is a four-year longitudinal research study of young twins born in 2009-2010, exploring children's family relationships, psychological adjustment and mental health. Data were collected between 2012-2017. Over this four-year period (child ages 3-6 years), participating mothers and fathers each completed two questionnaires, a telephone interview, and an online parent-child interactive game. Secondary analyses opportunities are available. Please contact b.oliver@ucl.ac.uk if you are interested

The ESO System

Bonamy Oliver

Decades of research support the crucial role of family (e.g., parent-child, sibling) relationships from cradle to grave, relating them to psychological adjustment and health. The detailed measurement of these relationships is essential for research and practice. ‘Etch-a-Sketch Online’ (ESO; Oliver & Pike, 2021) is a methodology that allows the collection of family interactions online, without the need for home- or lab-visits. Since its publication just before the pandemic lockdown in the UK, it is now used across the globe, and, in 2023, was recognised for an Impact Award by the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH).
 
ESO is available wherever there is internet (the site allows translation into numerous languages), can be employed through touch screen or keyboard, and is very flexible. Different stimuli, coding schemes, and interaction times are all facilitated. Interactions between parents and children, as well as grandparents and children, siblings, and peers are all possible, and it is suitable for use with children aged three to adults! Questions? Just email!

Contextualising and learning in mental health support (CALMS)

Emily Midouhas and Bonamy Oliver

CALMS is a mobile application parents can use to track their parenting behaviour alongside their child’s behaviour using ecological momentary assessment and then see emerging patterns in their family dynamics. We aim to collect CALMS data from families receiving treatment from CAMHS to uncover mechanisms of change whilst in treatment. We also aim to pilot test the feasibility of CALMS in a subclinical sample of families and hope to build on this work to determine its potential for augmentation of parenting behaviour due to increased self-awareness.

Co-developing an emotion beliefs intervention

Matt Somerville and Bonamy Oliver

Children and young people’s well-being has declined significantly since the pandemic began. We aim to implement a school-based psychological intervention which equips young people with the necessary knowledge and skills to improve their emotional well-being and support them during transition from primary to secondary school. The intervention design will be a collaborative process, developed alongside students, teachers and parents. Currently, we are working with a large secondary school in South London to better understand the key issues associated with school transitions and further develop our ideas to ensure the intervention would be both informed by research evidence and suit the specific needs of the school and community.

Other ongoing projects

  • Access to mental health services in population cohorts – Emily Midouhas and Bonamy Oliver
  • Adapting a brief parenting intervention for use in the UK – Bonamy Oliver and Patty Leijten
  • Mindful parenting: parent and child perspectives – Pinar Acet and Bonamy Oliver
  • Headspace for parents – Abigail Burgess and Bonamy Oliver
  • Polygenic scores for psychopathology – Nisa Rainy, Emma Meaburn and Bonamy Oliver
  • Emotion dysregulation as a transdiagnostic mechanism for mental health – Abigail Thomson, Georgina Hosang and Bonamy Oliver

Contact us

The Nurture Lab
Psychology and Human Development
UCL Institute of Education
University College London
25 Woburn Square
London WC1H 0AA