2023 –             Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology, University of Manchester, UK

2015 – 2023    Lecturer in Developmental Psychology, University of Manchester, UK

2011 – 2015     Post-doctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

2005 – 2011     M.A. & Ph.D. in Education, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

2003 – 2005     M.A. in Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey

1999 – 2003     B.A. in Psychology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

My research focuses on the intersection between children’s communicative and socio-cognitive development. I investigate the ways in which young children’s exchange ideas and reasons to arrive at collective decisions which require children to understand their partners’ perspectives in relation to their own perspective. The specific topics I am interested in involve children’s reasoning and argumentation, children’s social learning (trust in others around them), children’s understanding of common ground (or shared experiences with others),  and children’s understanding of social norms (obligations, commitments). I am especially interested in investigating these topics cross-culturally and cross-linguistically. 

PSYC 21021: Topics in Developmental Psychology - Unit Lead (with Dr. Alissa Ferry & Prof. Anna Theakston)

PSYC 31121: Language and Communicative Development in Educational Settings - Unit Lead (with Prof. Anna Theakston)

PSYC 30920: Third-year Project Supervision

• Project Title: "Collective Reasoning and Rationality in Early Childhood" (PI, Funder: Templeton World Charity Foundation)
• Project Title: "The Social Epistemology of Argumentation" (CoI, Funder: European Research Council)
• Project Title: "A cross­linguistic approach to children’s social learning and reasoning" (Co-PI, Manchester-Toronto International Partnership Research Fund)
• Project Title: "Human Intelligence in Development: Ontogeny of Reasoning" (PI, Funder: Templeton World Charity Foundation)
• Project Title: "Moral vigilance: Examining young children’s selective sense of forgiveness" (Co-PI, Funder: British Academy)

Current members:

• Dr. Owen Waddington (Post-doctoral Research Associate)
• Charlotte Savill (PhD student)
• Xihan Hu (PhD student)
• Kiara Jackson (PhD student)
• Shaun Kerry (PhD student)
• Jiatian Zhang (PhD student)

Past Members:

• Dr. Kirstie Hartwell (Manchester Institute of Education)
• Dr. Maria Mammen (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universtät, München)
• Dr. Andreas Domberg (Max Planck Institute for Human Development)
• Grace Barton
• Hannah Dempsey
• Leonor Santana Miranda Goncalves
• Yasmin Green
• Sophie Bennett
• Carlyn Murray