Kelly is a Lecturer in Psychology and Education. Broadly, Kelly is interested in research which applies cognitive psychology to education, learning, and development. Her research focuses on reading and language development and disorders, and she has a particular interest in the development and evaluation of educational interventions. Kelly is committed to implementing science and translating research to practice. Key areas of interest are:

• Oral and written language development
• Developmental disorders of language and cognition
• Randomised controlled trials, longitudinal studies, and short term training studies
• Interventions and effective strategies for supporting reading and language difficulties
• Parent-delivered and school-based educational programmes
• Typical development and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
• Educational inclusion
• Down syndrome

Kelly joined the University of Manchester in 2017 after holding several post-doctoral research posts at Down Syndrome Education International, University College London, and Australian Catholic University (Brisbane). She is currently a Lecturer in Psychology and Education in the Manchester Institute of Education. Kelly teaches and supervises students on the BSc and MSc Educational Psychology programmes. Her research work includes experimental studies of language and reading, large scale longitudinal studies of children’s development, and Randomized Controlled Trials of educational interventions. She is lead author on 2 evidence-based educational intervention programmes: Reading and Language Intervention (RLI) for children with Down syndrome and Parents and Children Together (PACT) which is a parent delivered early language teaching programme.  Kelly is co-convenor of the Cognition and Language in Education: Application and Research (CLEAR) special interest group which is part of the Education and Psychology research group at the Manchester Institute of Education.