Isabella started as a teaching fellow in the department in September. We caught up with Isabella to get to know more about them better.

Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

Hello, I am Isabella Vainieri.

I have a background in Neuroscience, and I completed my PhD in Developmental Psychiatry at King’s College London in 2021.

After my PhD, I worked across different institutions in a combination of research and teaching activities in Developmental and Cognitive Neuroscience. I joined RHUL in September 2023.

What drew you to the Psychology Department at Royal Holloway?

The positive environment in the Department of Psychology.

This is a friendly and collaborative space where both staff and students are supported and helped to achieve their goals.

Your role at Royal Holloway/How do you contribute to teahcing within the department?

I am a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Psychology.

I am a module coordinator for the module Understanding Neuroscience. I also teach other modules such as Advanced Developmental Psychology, Social and Affective Neuroscience, and Developmental Disorders.

I also supervise both undergraduate and postgraduate research projects and I am involved in personal tutoring.

What is your research area and current projects?

I am interested in understanding childhood predictors of life satisfaction, and psychological and cognitive outcomes.

I am also interested in understanding how students learn, specifically neuroscience, and in applying new teaching strategies to help students engage with the subject.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I like visual arts; I enjoy going to museums and art exhibitions and I also paint using oil on canvas.

I also enjoy gaming, especially MMOs and I collect Pokémon on Pokémon GO…you might see me around campus trying to catch them all :)