Dr Kathryn Bates completed her PhD at the Institute of Education, University College London in July 2021 and joined the LIFE-MAP lab led by Dr Delia Fuhrmann as a Research Associate in 2022. They investigated adversity in adolescence using secondary data analysis. This work included leveraging large-scale cohort datasets to examine the impact of social adversities on cortical development, cognition, and mental health throughout adolescence. They also collaborated with Barnardo’s Children’s charity to examine practitioners’ perspectives on what key issues young people face today (see full report here). Kathryn is now a Co-Investigator and Research Fellow on the UNITE project investigating social and cognitive pathways to loneliness in socio-economically marginalised young people.

Research interests

Kathryn is interested in how individual differences in the brain, social experiences, and mental health interact to shape how young people develop.

Expertise and public engagement

• Kathryn works with stakeholders - from young people to charities to support practitioners - in her research and science communication.
• Kathryn writes regularly for multiple digital platforms on learning and development for parents and teachers (see examples here).
• She is also the Producer and Host of The Science or Fiction Podcast. The podcast is co-produced with young people, and in each episode, they interview researchers to separate the science from the fiction in media coverage of mental health research. You can listen to new episodes on the first Monday of every month, links to listen and further information can be found on their website: www.scienceorfiction.co.uk