Laura is a postdoctoral researcher, whose interests are around inclusion and wellbeing in schools, with a particular focus on collaborative approaches to managing student behaviour. She worked as a Research Coordinator between April to August 2026, for the Speech, Hearing and Early Language Learning (SHELL) study, a large-scale project investigating hearing, speech perception and spoken language skills in primary school classrooms, led by Dr Lizzie Buchanan-Worster and Dr Matt Davis. Laura is moving to a role as a Senior Teaching Associate at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, from September 2026.

Previously, Laura completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of York. Her study explored teachers’ experiences of teaching students who present with conduct problems and callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and the potential impact of these experiences on teachers’ wellbeing. Laura has also worked as a Research Associate, managing the Healthy Start Happy Start follow-up study at the Play Education Development and Learning (PEDAL) centre at the University of Cambridge. She completed her PhD with the Psychology in Education Research Centre at the University of York, exploring senior school leaders’ views on alternative approaches to behaviour management and the barriers preventing these from being more widely used in schools in England.