Michaela Kent recently completed her PhD in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at Western University (London, Ontario, Canada). During this time, she was based at the Centre for Brain and Mind and Western Institute for Neuroscience and was co-supervised by Dr. Emma Duerden and Dr. Jody Culham.

Her interest in the developing brain has been a driving factor behind previous work. During her undergraduate degree, Michaela wrote a dissertation focussed on the neurodevelopment of children raised in orphanages. She then completed a Master’s degree in Brain Science at the University of Glasgow, working primarily on a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study exploring aspects of social cognition. Whilst in Glasgow, Michaela worked with Dr. Ruud Hortensius and as part of the Social Brain in Action Lab on the ERC-funded Social Robots research project. Building on her neuroimaging background, Michaela is now using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to study the developing brain in naturalistic settings. Specifically, she uses fNIRS and behavioural measures to study how socio-cognitive skills develop and how brain responses to social interactions might be influenced by the environment.

Outside of her research, Michaela has been actively involved in the Society of Neuroscience Graduate Students and has worked as a graduate teaching assistant in Psychology at Western University and King’s University College. In her spare time, she is currently volunteering at a local hospital working to conduct engaging and meaningful activities with patients.