Michelle de Haan, PhD

Post-doctoral Research Fellows

 Dr Manuela Pisch studied the effects of sleep on cognitive development during her PhD at Birkbeck, University of London. She then continued her work with the EPIPEG (Epilepsy in infancy: relating phenotype to genotype)  study, examining cognitive and social outcomes in a population-based study of infants newly diagnosed with epilepsy in southeast England..

Current PhD Students

Maneet Saini's PhD project is part of a longitudinal study investigating neurocognitive and sensorimotor development in infants and children who have undergone cardiac surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital. The aim of the programme is to assess the effects of neonatal exposure to hypoxia/ischaemia on the early development of brain circuits involved in language, cognition, and sensorimotor function

Former PhD Students

Laura Katus obtained her MSc in Applied Paediatric Neuropsychology at UCL before starting her PhD at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health under supervision of Prof Michelle de Haan, Dr Sarah-Lloyd-Fox and Prof Clare Elwell. She is investigating brain correlates of cognitive and social development in infants born in the UK and those born in the Gambia as part of the BRIGHT project. Laura is now lecturer in Psychology at the University of Greenwich.
Merari Lavander Ferreira obtained her MSc in Applied Paediatric Neuropsychology at UCL before starting her PhD at the UCL Institute of Child Health under supervision of Prof. Michelle de Haan and Prof. Neil Marlow. Merari is investigating number processing and maths skills in infants and children born preterm, as part of the Preterm Development Project.

Joe Bathelt's PhD research systematically looked at the development of children with visual impairment in the age range of 8 to 12 years, under the supervision of Prof Michelle de Haan, Prof Naomi Dale and Dr Alison Salt. The results of this study provided detailed information about the progression of children with visual impairment in mid-childhood, and helped to identify the strengths of children with visual impairment thereby highlighting areas that might need extra help and intervention. This knowledge informed the team's clinical practice and will be integrated to inform families, educators and doctors.

 After completing his PhD, Joe went on to a position as Research Associate at Cambridge University, followed by a period as Lecturer in Psychology at Royal Holloway University of London.  He currently holds a post at the University of Amsterdam.

Michelle Downes obtained her MSc in Applied Paediatric Neuropsychology at UCL before starting her PhD at the UCL Institute of Child Health under supervision of Dr Fenella Kirkham and Prof Michelle de Haan. She in investigating the development of executive function in preschoolers with sickle cell disease. Michelle completed her PhD in 2016 and is now Lecturer at University College Dublin https://people.ucd.ie/michelle.downes

Carla Startin completed her PhD under supervision of Prof David Skuse and Prof Michelle de Haan, investigating links between variation in the X-Linked EFHC2 gene and social cognitive abilities.

Carla went on to a position as Research Associate in the Division of Psychiatry at UCL, and is currently at the University of Surrey Department of Psychology

 https://www.surrey.ac.uk/people/carla-startin

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Kayleigh Day studied at the University of Birmingham before starting her PhD at the UCL Institute of Child Health under supervision of Dr Michelle de Haan and Prof Neil Marlow. Kayleigh is investigating the cognitive and social outcomes of preterm birth at 2-3 years of age as part of the Preterm Development Project.

Kayleigh completed her PhD in 2017 and is now pursuing a career in scientific writing.