Miss Ellie Dorrans

(she/her)

BSc (Hons), PhD AFHEA

Overview

Currently, I work in the field of developmental psychology and I am interested in how the emotional environments of primary caregivers influence the development of young children. My work focuses on how parental mental health, expressed emotion, and facial expressivity influence childhood internalising and externalising problems, and how children learn to recognise and respond to emotions. I am particularly interested in the transdiagnostic processes underlying child mental health and the indirect pathways through which parental emotionality shapes development, and how this can be applied to improve psychological interventions and support for families. Thank you to the Waterloo Foundation for supporting this work!

I also teach in the School of Psychology, supporting the BSc Psychology and MSc Child Psychological Conditions course. I am passionate about providing high quality teaching to those in Higher Education, and work closely with the Learning and Teaching Academy to ensure my teaching practice is accessible, inclusive, and supports the development of long term skills for students.

I’m also currently part of the SGO project, which seeks to better understand and support the needs of children and families in Wales who are subject to Special Guardianship Orders. This exciting role allows me to work with administrative data through SAIL and produce research outputs funded by The Nuffield Foundation.