Astrid Bowen

PhD Student

Contact

abowen03@student.bbk.ac.uk

Twitter: @aejbowen

 

Supervisors

Professor Michael Thomas (Birkbeck, University of London)

Professor Andrew Tolmie (UCL Institute of Education)

 

Research Interests

My research focus is primarily on the promotion of well-being in schools, but I’m also interested in the promotion of learning in general, and specifically how to promote skill transfer and generalisation in children, both in the general population and also with special educational needs.  My past research projects include a discursive analysis of cultural messages concerning mental health and well-being, and an examination of the relationships between self-reported perceptions of school climate, subjective well-being and engagement at school in secondary school students.

My PhD project is co-funded by the ESRC and Evolve, a social impact company.  It involves evaluating the effects of Evolve’s Project HE:RO, a health mentoring intervention, on well-being, academic achievement, behavioural and cognitive outcomes in KS2 children.  The project also explores the interfacing of academic research and commercial education intervention provision.

 

Education

PhD Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London, 2021-Present

MSc Developmental Disorders (Distinction), University of Nottingham, 2020-2021

BSc (Hons) Psychology with Counselling (First Class), The Open University, 2015-2020

 

Selected Presentations

Bowen, A. E. J. What does it mean to 'be well'?.  Presented for the Developmental Neurocognition Lab research group, July 2023.

Bowen, A. E. J. Impact and Evaluation.  Presented for the Evolve Annual Conference, August 2022, 2023.

Bowen, A. E. J. Educational interventions: Trials, evidence, and the case of school-based mentoring.  Presented for the Centre for Educational Neuroscience seminar series, June 2022. Recording

Bowen, A. E. J. Health mentoring: A way forward for wellbeing?  Presented for the Leeds University Health and Social Psychology research group, April 2022.

 

Awards and Funding

2021-2024 – UBEL DTP Co-funded +3 PhD studentship, ESRC and Evolve.

2023 – Graduate Award for Public Communication of Science.  The Centre for Educational Neuroscience.

2020 – British Psychological Society Prize for Highest Achievement in Final Year Undergraduate Dissertation.  The Open University in Wales.