Professor Sophie von Stumm

Profile

Biography

I am Professor of Psychology in Education and Director of the Hungry Mind Lab at the Department of Education at the University of York.

After completing my PhD in Psychology in 2010, I worked at the University of Chichester (2010-11), completed an ESRC-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Edinburgh (2011-12), and lectured at Goldsmiths University of London (2012-17) and the London School of Economics (2017-18).

I am keen to communicate with international academic colleagues and potential PhD students interested in research investigating the causes and consequences of individual differences in learning. In particular, please contact me if you would like to discuss the following projects:

• Genomic prediction of educational outcomes
• Effects of early life experiences for cognitive development
• Technologies for measuring behaviour and cognitive function
• The role of personality traits for learning

Research

Overview

I study the causes and consequences of individual differences in learning across the life course. I integrate a range of theories and methods from psychology, education, sociology, epidemiology and genomics to pursue research in three key: (a) using genome-wide polygenic scores to better understand educational outcomes; (b) the effects of early life environments on children’s language development; and (c) the role of personality traits like curiosity and imagination for learning.

My work is currently funded by the British Academy, the Jacobs Foundation, and the Nuffield Foundation.

View my google scholar profile. Three of my recent publications are:

1. von Stumm, S., & Plomin, R. (2020). Does private education make nicer people? The influence of school type on social-emotional development. British Journal of Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1111/bjop.12462

2. von Stumm, S., Smith-Woolley, E., Cheesman, R., Pingault, J., Asbury, K., Dale, P., Allen, R, Kovas, Y., & Plomin, R. (2020). School quality ratings are weak predictors of students’ achievement and wellbeing. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry; doi:10.1111/jcpp.13276.

3. von Stumm, S., Smith-Woolley, E., Ayorech, Z., McMillan, A., Rimfeld, K., Dale, P., & Plomin R., (2020). Predicting educational achievement from genomic measures and socioeconomic status. Developmental Science, 23, 1-8.

External activities

Memberships

I am on the Board of Directors for the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences (ISSID) and the British Society for the Psychology of Individual Differences (BSPID). I am also a core team member of the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS; focus: socioeconomic status and cognitive development). Previously, I served on the ESRC Grant Assessment Panel for Secondary Data Analysis Initiative (Panel D), and on the Interdisciplinary Research Advisory Panel for REF 2021.

Editorial duties

I am Deputy Editor for the British Journal of Psychology and Associate Editor for the Journal of Personality.