Fully funded PhD: How engagement with complex screen media is reshaping early cognitive development and attention systems

Unfortunately, due to financial limitations, we cannot accept international applications for this PhD.

About the role

A funded PhD position is available to address a fundamental question in developmental science: when it comes to screen media content, what is good and what is bad? and how is engagement with (complex) screen media impacting children's early socio-cognitive development.

Children learn to pay attention in very information-rich and potentially noisy settings, partly through the use of screen media devices. Screen media devices can also be used to self-regulate. In particular, the predictability of screen content might be what is driving attention and helping them regulate. Predictability of screen media therefore might be one key differentiator of good vs bad screen media content for young children and infants. Currently, however, we understand very little about children's choices of screen media content within naturalistic home environments and how this impacts their physiology and attention throughout the day.

The PhD project aims to move beyond questionnaire and coarse-grained quantity-based methods by addressing the following questions:

• What features of children's screen media promote learning and self-regulation? E.g., by exploring measures of developmental outcomes, like long and short-term learning from screen content based on their perceived complexity.
• What features of the home environment motivate screen use for regulatory purposes?
• How does moment-to-moment engagement (ET/EEG) with screen media affect long-term information retention, and how is that modulated by content complexity?

We know that screen media is becoming an increasingly prevalent feature of children's early learning environments. By integrating levels of analysis (home recordings, EEG, arousal, eyetracking) the project will provide a mechanistic account of how engagement with (complex) screen media is reshaping early cognitive development and attention systems.

About the Institute

The PhD will be based at The Institute for the Science of Early Years and Youth (ISEY), at the Stratford Campus of The University of East London. This research institute is led by Sam Wass, and the PhD will be supervised by Dr Ira Marriott Haresign and Dr Pierre Labendzki. The successful candidate would be working within a wider team of 20 researchers at ISEY, and joining a small team of researchers already working on the project exploring related research questions. This means there is some scope for the PhD candidate to contribute to shaping the project focus and design, including the age of children studied and the specific outcome measures.

Knowledge exchange and dissemination will be a key part of this PhD, and the successful candidate will be expected to share project findings and associated research with early years practitioners, as part of the training and development services that ISEY offers. Therefore, this role is especially suitable for someone passionate about bridging the gap between research and practice and translating research for a non-scientific audience. This may involve writing articles for educator-facing publications, attending early years events, and running online and face-to-face training. Support will be given in these areas.

Requirements

• The PhD candidate must have a first or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree and preferably a Masters in a discipline relevant to the project. While we expect that this project would suit graduates from a psychology background, we are happy to receive applications from a range of backgrounds that have potential to enhance the project (e.g., computer science, education psychology, media analysis).
• Experience working with children is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with programming and data analysis tools is also preferable, as the PhD will involve advanced quantitative data analysis, although support will be given in this area.
• Successful applicants should have an interest in auditory or visual attention, speech and language processing, arousal, and EEG.
• Familiarity with eye-tracking and EEG is highly desirable, as is experience with associated data analysis tools.
• The successful candidate will potentially use custom-built wearable devices and be willing to analyse multi-streamed timeseries (physiological and behavioural day-long recordings).
• Whilst some remote work is possible, the successful candidate will need to be based at the ISEY lab in Stratford, London for at least 50% of the time. During data collection periods, PhD students may need to be in London every day.

Funding and Schedule

The PhD can start in September 2026 or January 2027. Funding covers tuition fees (approx £5-8k per year) and a stipend set at the ESRC/UKRI rate for London Universities (£22,780 p.a) if studying full-time. Part-time study is based on 0.6FTE and the stipend will be adjusted accordingly (£13,668), lasting for up to 5 years.