Led by Dr. Chiara Bulgarelli
Within the SAND team, we’re fascinated by one of life’s most remarkable journeys, how babies and young children grow into social beings. From the earliest months of life through childhood, we investigate how the developing brain supports social cognition and emotional understanding, and what shapes these abilities along the way.
Our work spans three interconnected streams of research:
- Social Cognition Development: We explore how social cognition unfolds in early life, studying how children come to understand others’ minds, emotions, and intentions, as well as how empathy and emotion regulation emerge and develop from infancy into childhood.
- Virtual Reality for Social Development: We pioneer the use of immersive VR environments as an innovative tool for studying social behaviour in young children, bringing real-world social experiences into the lab in controlled and creative ways.
- Brain Connectivity & fNIRS: We investigate how brain connectivity develops in early life, tracing how neural networks are shaped by social experiences. We use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a versatile, child-friendly neuroimaging tool across our research. We are also deeply invested in advancing the methodology of fNIRS itself, working to refine and develop best practices that strengthen the quality and rigor of developmental neuroimaging research.
By combining cutting-edge methods with a curiosity-driven approach, the SAND lab aims to build a richer understanding of how the social brain develops, and what this means for children’s wellbeing and learning. We are committed to bridging the gap between neuroscience and real-world contexts, working closely with educational settings to ensure our research informs and supports children’s social and emotional development in the classroom and beyond.
Research Team:
- Dr. Chiara Bulgarelli – PI & Senior Lecturer
- Anna Raynaud – PhD student, first supervisor, co-supervised with Prof Oliver Bonamy and Prof Emily Jones
Anna’s research explores whether empathy can be taught and trained. Working at the intersection of social neuroscience and education, she investigates how empathy training programs in school settings can shape children’s social and emotional development, with the aim of translating neuroscience insights into meaningful classroom practice.
- Roksana Seif – PhD student, first supervisor, co-supervised with Prof Denis Mareschal
Roksana is interested in how children learn to manage their emotions together. Her research focuses on co-regulation, i.e. the process by which children regulate their emotional states in interaction with others, and how this social-emotional skill develops across childhood.
- Chelsey Wickmark – PhD student at Brunel University, Dept of Computer Science, second supervisor, first supervisor: Dr Nadine Aburumman
Chelsey’s research sits at the cutting edge of computer science and child development. She investigates how young children interact with chatbots and what this means for their social development, exploring both the opportunities and challenges that conversational AI presents for the way children learn to navigate the social world.