King's College London

Ahead of our 2025 Undergraduate Summer School launching in June, we spoke to Alan and Sumeyra about their module Developmental Psychology to learn a little more about what to expect.

Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at Kings?

Alan: I am a Lecturer on the BSc Psychology at King’s, where I lead teaching on several developmental psychology modules across the programme and supervise undergraduate research projects on topics related to youth mental health. I also carry out my own research, which most recently has used large longitudinal datasets to examine risk and resilience factors for mental health problems following childhood adversity or trauma.

Sumeyra: I am a Lecturer on the BSc Psychology at King’s, where I lead teaching on several developmental and social psychology modules across all three years of the programme and supervise undergraduate research projects on topics related to close relationships and well-being. My most recent research focussed on adult attachment and its impacts on relationship outcomes.

 

Tell us a little bit about your Summer School module, Developmental Psychology, and why students should come next summer to study it?

Our Developmental Psychology Summer School module aims to offer an engaging, dynamic, and research-led introduction to how humans develop from the prenatal period through infancy, childhood, adolescence, and beyond. Over two weeks, students will explore key topics related to early biological, cognitive, and social development, and learn how a range of individual, family, and community factors work to influence childhood mental health. This will be delivered through a combination of live lectures, discussion-focused seminars, practical sessions centred on real-life research methods, and additional online material and activities for students to complete in their own time. The module is also taught by active researchers who will share unique insights on the latest advances in the field and draw on their own expertise to inform module content. This Summer School is therefore ideal for anyone interested in psychology, education, or child development.

 

What inspired you to specialise in Developmental Psychology?

Alan: Towards the end of my undergraduate degree, I was lucky enough to gain experience on a project involving data from a longitudinal birth cohort, where participants’ health and wellbeing had been measured consistently over several decades. The ability of this type of research design to show whether different aspects of the early environment influenced our chances of developing mental health problems many years later was hugely exciting to me, inspiring me to eventually complete a PhD in the field of developmental psychopathology.

Sumeyra: During my undergraduate studies, I had the opportunity to work and volunteer in various developmental psychology research projects. Working with children on the autism spectrum deeply inspired me to pursue this field further. I later completed my Master’s and PhD in Developmental Psychology, where I explored diverse research on human development across the lifespan.

 

What are some of the key topics covered in the module?

This module will give students a comprehensive introduction to the main sub-disciplines of developmental psychology, as well as some of the main scientific and research methods used to investigate different aspects of psychological development across the lifespan, with a specific focus on childhood. Topics covered will include the key biological processes during early development; common mental health problems in childhood; the development of cognitive abilities such as language; and family and community influences on development.

 

What are some of the most exciting recent developments in the field of Developmental Psychology that you incorporate into your teaching?

As lecturers, we constantly review the most recent literature to ensure that our teaching materials remain current and incorporate the latest and most impactful research. This will be reflected in our Summer School module content: as well as exploring the classic research and theories behind various aspects of human development, we will also draw on more contemporary research evidence to examine how psychologists’ thinking around a given topic has changed over time. For example, we will look at the historical basis for the ‘nature vs nurture’ debate that has defined much of developmental psychology to date, while also showing how advances in scientific methods have allowed us to learn more than ever about the unique contributions and interactions of both of these to our health and development.

 

How do you integrate experiential learning opportunities into the module?

Experiential learning will be a key component of this module. As both module organisers are active developmental psychology researchers, many of the lectures will feature data and material from their previous research projects, giving students direct insight into the real-life research process. The module will also feature dedicated practical sessions where students will get hands-on experience of some of the different research designs and data collection approaches that are commonly used within developmental psychology.

 

The ‘Developmental Psychology’ module will run from 14^th to 25^th July 2025 as part of our Undergraduate Summer School Programme here at King’s. Applications are now open, and the application deadline is 9^th May 2025. More information on our fees, entry requirements and residential package can be found on the Undergraduate Summer School homepage.