Dr Virginia <br> Lam
Programme Leader
Developmental Psychology
Leadership, research & teaching in Psychology. Specialisms in Child Development & Social Psychology. Programme Leader for BSc Psychology and BSc Child Psychology.
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AE 2.10, Stratford Campus
School of Psychology
The University of East London
Stratford Campus
London
E15 4LZ - v.lam@uel.ac.uk +442082232817
Virginia joined UEL Psychology after teaching and research in other London universities. She had completed her undergraduate studies at Cardiff University, followed by a Masters in Psychological Research at Exeter and a PhD in Developmental Psychology at Goldsmiths. Since then her research has encompassed areas across both social cognition and developmental psychology and from preschool through childhood to adolescence/adulthood.
Virginia conducts and supervises research under the broad overarching theme of Diversity and Development, particularly among children and young people and based in 'real-life' settings such as schools and community hubs. She has published various articles, chapters and reports on these areas and regularly presents at conferences and symposia internationally. She has co-authored the text Developmental Psychology twice (Pearson/ Prentice Hall; 2nd ed. in 2016; Italian ed. in 2013). [See under Research and Publications.]
Currently, Virginia oversees the project 'Growing up bilingual' (GUB project). It is funded by the ESRC through the University Bloomsbury and East London group's Doctoral Training Partnership's (UBEL-DTP) Collaborative fund (2018-2021). The project aims to understand, through longitudinal research, the cognitive and social development of bilingual children with and without formal heritage language tuition. Co-supervising with Professor Andrew Ravenscroft (Cass School of Education), the team collaborates with Newham Partnership for Complementary Education (NPCE) and its nationwide mother-organisation, the National Resource Centre for Supplementary Education (NRCSE).
Virginia teaches primarily Developmental Psychology. From 2019 she is Acting Programme Leader for the BSc Psychology and BSc Child Psychology and co-leads the core module Topics in Developmental Psychology. For several years, she had led Research Methods for the MSc Psychology, was its Admissions Tutor, and had served as the School's Leader of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).
Virginia is a BPS Chartered Psychologist (Developmental Psychology) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She was an Associate Lecturer with the Open University for over 10 years teaching Distance Learning courses Childhood Studies, Child Development and Exploring Psychology.
Overview
Virginia's research encompasses areas across developmental psychology and social cognition that broadly surround the theme ‘Diversity and Development'. The age groups studied span from early childhood through adolescence to adulthood. She is particularly interested in social group (gender, race, ethnic, national, religious and ethnolinguistic) differences, social group identities and intergroup processes (e.g., stereotyping, prejudice, peer interactions, group relations) and their impact on applied areas of development (e.g., self-concepts, social competences, cognitive functioning and educational outcomes, body image satisfaction and eating preference, sporting activity/ level) and social attitudes and behaviour (e.g., political parties, institutions, voting tendency) in 'real-life' settings such as schools and community/ cultural hubs.
Students and prospective students are welcome to consult with Virginia about research projects, postgraduate research opportunities or voluntary teaching assistantships with her project-partner in these areas. [Please scroll down on this page to see her recent or on-going lines of research]
1. Bilingual/ bicultural development. Virginia collaborates with the local organization Newham Partnership for Complementary Education (NPCE; local member of NRCSE), which brokers projects or placements between students and complementary schools. Recently, the team won a research grant (UBEL-DTP) to fund a three-year (2018-21) project investigating potential benefits of bilingual/ bicultural development across the complementary language and mainstream education sector. The previously completed 'scoping' study had received coverage by the media (1, 2) and UEL news and its paper published in the journal Language and Education [see Publications].
Virginia also gained a series of funded internships to support committed and promising students as research assistants. Students who are also interested in volunteering as teaching assistants at complementary language schools may contact Virginia about any potential opportunities with NPCE.
2. Ethnic identity, acculturation, self-esteem, body image satisfaction (and eating behaviours) among diverse female populations. The relationships between the key constructs have been piloted in former students' projects. Virginia is keen to explore further among adolescents.
3. Children's gender-based reasoning about toys: The role of child and parental variables. Recent and ongoing student research involves testing children from preschool (as young as 2) to school (up to 10 years) ages and taking data from their parents. Virginia is looking to expand the scope of investigations to more aspects of gender cognition and behavior.
4. National (British or other) and ethnic identifications, social group stereotypes/attitudes and feelings about and sport participation/ spectatorship/ fandom. These are broad areas and taps into intergroup or political psychology.
5. Children's representations about nonhuman agents. A relatively new line of work, this taps into children's thoughts and beliefs about entities that are not human including animals or living creatures (observable or unobservable), popular occult figures (e.g., fairy, superman, Father Christmas), and spirits and deities (Gods, saints, angels), and the influence of culture (e.g., religious group membership, beliefs and practice) on such representations.
Virginia has supervised areas broadly related to the above themes. Her current/ recent research supervisees (from undergraduates to doctorates) investigate/ have investigated such diverse topics as bilingual development and cultural-linguistic identity, national and supranational identifications and intergroup prejudice, social impact of virtual interactive gaming, clinical impact of cyberbullying among adolescents, perceived gender inequality and work performance and satisfaction, multiple-minority status, perceived discrimination and mental health, and the effects of modelling or rewards on children’s healthy food choice, among others.
Prospective research students interested in investigating these themes are encouraged to contact Virginia directly.
Collaborators
- UEL
- External
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Teaching Associate; Royal Holloway
Dee Birtles
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Lecturer, School of Psychology
Dr Shashika Vethanayagam
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Dean of Education, Kings College, University of London
Professor Patrick Leman
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Professor of Developmental Psychology
Ileana Enesco
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Senior Lecturer, University of Kent
Dr Lindsey Cameron
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NPCE
Newham Partnership for Complementary Education
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Doctor of Developmental Psychology, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha
Dr Silvia Guerrero