Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search
Biography Gemma is an Associate Professor in Developmental Psychology at the University of Salford and Psychology Research Theme Co-lead with Dr Sharon Coen. Gemma joined the University of Salford as a lecturer in 2016 and is an expert in child development with over 15 years’ experience conducting research with children aged from 3-months to 4 years. Gemma completed her PhD at the University of Sheffield studying the role of attention on learning and memory development across infancy and was supervised by Dr Jane Herbert. Gemma’s research area focusses on children’s development in the digital age and children’s digital media.

Gemma has previously held a prestigious Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant as Principal Investigator (2018-21), she has contributed to the British Psychological Society (BPS) and Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POSTnote) publications on children’s media use and written evidence for the recent Education Committee’s Screen Time enquiry. Gemma is a chartered member of the British Psychological Society, a peer reviewer for external funders including the ESRC and a Guest Associate Editor for Frontiers in Psychology – Developmental Psychology. Gemma is currently supervising two PhD students.
Research Interests Screen media is a ubiquitous in children’s day to day lives, my research strives to understand the impact of screen media on children’s early cognitive development. In particular, I am interested in children’s declarative memory development and children’s early word learning.

Salford Cognitive Development Lab website: https://www.salford.ac.uk/research/health-sciences/research-groups/psychology/salford-cognitive-development-lab

Child Development, Digital Media, Learning, Memory, Language Development
Teaching and Learning Module Leader: L4 Introduction to Developmental and Social Psychology, L5 Developmental Psychology and L6 Atypical Child Development

Contributor: L4 Introduction to Research Methods, MSc Media Psychology Research Methods

Supervisor: UG Dissertations, PGT Dissertation supervisor