Dr Nicole Gridley

About Dr Nicole Gridley

Nicole is a Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology based within the Carnegie School of Education.

She gained her BSc, MSc, and PhD in Psychology at Bangor University, graduating in 2014. Her doctoral thesis used observational data collected over an 18-month period to explore the association between parental language used within free-play sessions in the home on children’s later language outcomes. Nicole continues to research in this area, with a particular focus on early preventative, and targeted interventions designed to enhance parental wellbeing and children’s social-emotional and behavioural outcomes. Her work is multidisciplinary, bringing together academics from Education, Psychology and Health, to work in collaboration with practitioners and policy makers. She has been working in the field of research for ten years, having previously held posts at Bangor University, Wales, University of Greenwich, and the University of York. 

Current Teaching

Nicole is the Course Leader for the BA (Hons) Educational Psychology degree.

Her teaching cuts across both undergraduate (Educational Psychology and Childhood Studies) and postgraduate levels (Masters in Childhood Studies and Early Years). She also supervises postgraduate and doctoral students in the areas of mental health, attachment, parenting, social-emotional, and language development.

Module leader for (including teaching)

Level Four:

• What is Psychology?
• Understanding Research in Educational Psychology
• Learner focused Teaching

Level Six:

• Children, Crime and Social Justice

Level Seven:

• Developing Early Language and Communication

Research Interests

Nicole’s research interests are centred around improving the life chances for children considered at a greater risk for poor outcomes. This encompasses the study of children within their home environment, and across different childcare settings, to ascertain the specific risk and protective factors in which to target for intervention. She is also interested in conducting rigorous evaluations of psychosocial interventions in order to inform the evidence base of their utility with this population.

Nicole has been involved in a number of randomised controlled trial evaluations of parenting support programmes, and is currently working with colleagues at the Universities of York and Durham evaluating the impact of the Parent-Child Plus programme on children’s (aged 2 to 4 years) language development. The programme is being trialled across Yorkshire and Humber. More information can be found on the education endowment foundation website.

In addition, Nicole is a keen methodologist, having specific expertise in observational and quantitative methodology. She has been involved in the development and validation of measurement tools commonly used in the field and has undertaken a number of systematic reviews within this area.