I completed my Psychology undergraduate degree at the University of Newcastle in 2016, and began work on my PhD under the supervision of Dr Michelle Kelly and Dr Linda Campbell in July 2017.
My research explores social skills impairments in people who’ve acquired a brain injury or who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Social skills refers to things such as the ability to be able to recognise a facial expression or pick up on someone’s tone of voice when they are being sarcastic or are angry, which are all essential skills for successful social interactions. My project is aimed at developing a tool for the clinical assessment of social skills impairments using pictures of social situations and faces displaying a wide array of emotions to assess how people with an acquired brain injury or a diagnosis of schizophrenia read social cues. It is hoped that the findings from this research will contribute to providing a reliable clinical measure of social skills in these populations. This knowledge, in turn, will help identify social skills that could be a target for treatment.
My research explores social skills impairments in people who’ve acquired a brain injury or who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Social skills refers to things such as the ability to be able to recognise a facial expression or pick up on someone’s tone of voice when they are being sarcastic or are angry, which are all essential skills for successful social interactions. My project is aimed at developing a tool for the clinical assessment of social skills impairments using pictures of social situations and faces displaying a wide array of emotions to assess how people with an acquired brain injury or a diagnosis of schizophrenia read social cues. It is hoped that the findings from this research will contribute to providing a reliable clinical measure of social skills in these populations. This knowledge, in turn, will help identify social skills that could be a target for treatment.