Georgia Chronaki - Academic Staff

Georgia oversees the activities of our Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (DCN) Laboratory. In parallel to her academic activities, Georgia has experience in working clinically with children and young people in various settings.

Georgia’s primary role is to lead the research activities of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (DCN) Lab. The programme of research in the DCN Lab encompasses a range of topics and includes a Social and Affective Neuroscience research stream and a Cognitive Neuroscience research stream. Georgia also teaches in our MSc in Child Development, and Advanced Developmental Psychopathology modules, and supervises PhD students.

Georgia is actively involved in public engagement activities on child development and the brain. She has been the lead organiser for the DCN Lab exhibit at the Lancashire Science Festival for several years.

Georgia has written a number of articles for a lay audience including the following:

The Conversation article entitled ‘Gifted children make good TV – but don’t forget their psychological needs’
The Conversation ‘Curious Kids’ series article on ‘How does our brain send signals to our body?’
Psychreg article on how to teach children and young people about feelings

Georgia studied Psychology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, under the supervision of Prof. Panayiota Vorria. In 2003, she received an Erasmus scholarship by the European Commission to visit the University of Padova (Italy) where she studied child and family psychology with Prof. Grazia Fava Vizziello.

In 2004, Georgia moved to the UCL Institute of Education in London (UK) to study for an MSc in Child Development with Prof. Carolien Rieffe, with a research focus on children’s behaviour problems and parental involvement in children’s education and social life.

In 2006, Georgia started a PhD at the University of Southampton, under the supervision of Prof. Edmund Sonuga-Barke. Her PhD focused on the behavioural and electrophysiological correlates of emotion processing in children with behaviour problems. From 2011 until 2013, she continued this work as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Edmund Sonuga-Barke on a project examining the neural processing of vocal emotion, as well as rewarding and aversive stimuli in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

In 2014, Georgia moved to the University of Manchester to work as a Lecturer in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion with Prof. Sonja Kotz. This led to a research collaboration with Prof. Jonathan Green on the electrophysiological correlates of vocal emotion processing in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

In August 2015, Georgia founded the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (DCN) Lab at the University of Central Lancashire and undertook the co-directorship of the DCN Lab with Prof. Pamela Qualter.

Currently, Georgia leads the activities of the DCN Lab at the University of Central Lancashire. She works with national and international partners on the developmental neuroscience of emotion toward the mission of promoting mental wellbeing in children and adolescents.

Work experience

2018 - Senior Lecturer in Developmental Neuroscience, UCLan
2015-2018 Lecturer in Developmental Neuroscience, UCLan
2013-2015 Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion, University of Manchester
2011-2013 Post-doctoral Research Fellow, School of Psychology, University of Southampton
2007-2008 Teaching Assistant, Holy Family Primary School, Southampton City Council
2006-2007 Assistant Psychologist, CAMHS, Southampton City Primary Care Trust
2006-2007 Research Assistant (part-time), Medical Research Council Epidemiology Centre
2003-2004 Research Assistant, Child Psychiatry Unit Padua Civil Hospital (Italy)

Georgia is a co-founding member (with Prof. Sonja Kotz) of the European Consortium Leading Adaptive Resilience Research In The Young (CLARRITY).

Georgia has acted as a referee for a range of scientific journals including the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Scientific Reports, Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Child Development, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Psychological Medicine, British Journal of Developmental Psychology and European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

She has also acted as grant reviewer for Medical Research Council and Action Medical Research.

Qualifications

Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills, Leeds Beckett University and the Academy of Child and Play Psychotherapy, (APAC), accredited by Play Therapy UK (PTUK), 2023
MA in Integrative Psychotherapy, University of Central Lancashire, 2023
Postgraduate Diploma in Integrative Psychotherapy, University of Central Lancashire, 2021
Graduate Certificate in Advanced Counselling Skills, University of Central Lancashire, 2019
PhD, Developmental Psychopathology, University of Southampton, 2011
MSc, Child Development, UCL Institute of Education, University of London, 2004
BSc (Hons) Psychology, Aristotle University, 2003

Awards

2015 Student Choice Award nomination, University of Manchester
2013 Travel Award from the International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE), California, US
2012 Nomination for the Science Communication Award, Society of Biology, Wellcome Trust
2010 Award winning oral presentation Annual conference of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, University of Southampton
2006 Community Fellowship Award to the project ‘Open discussion days with parents’ awarded by the Mayor of Southampton and University of Southampton
2003 Erasmus Visiting Scholar, Department of Psychology, University of Padua, Italy

Areas of Interest / Expertise

External Affiliations / Memberships

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
Register of Play and Creative Arts Therapists, Play Therapy UK (PTUK)
Honorary Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion, University of Manchester (2015-2021)
Visiting Research Fellow, School of Psychology, University of Southampton (2014-2022)
European Network of Hyperactivity Disorders (EUNETHYDIS)
International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE)
European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (ESCAN)
Flux: The Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Southampton Neuroscience Group (SoNG) steering committee (2011-2013)
British Psychological Society (BPS)- Developmental Psychology Section

Georgia’s research interests and expertise lie in the interface of Developmental Neuroscience and Developmental Psychopathology. Georgia’s research aims to understand the electrophysiological markers of emotion and reward processing in children and young people with neurodevelopmental disorders, with a specific focus on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and related conditions, such as conduct problems. A related focus of Georgia’s research is the neural basis of emotion processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The aim of this research is to apply knowledge to inform preventive interventions and promote positive developmental outcomes in children and young people.

Use the links below to view their profiles:

Research Group Memberships

Research Projects

Grants

2017-2019: UCLan Strategic Resource Panel Business Case to establish the Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, University of Central Lancashire (£120,000), Co-I, with Professor Linden Ball.
2019-2020 UCLan Research Institute for Global Health and Wellbeing (LIFE), Research Writing Group Funding (£15,000), Co-I with Dr. Karen Whittaker for the project ‘ENhancing Emotional Resilience and Growth in Young People (ENERGY)’.
2016-2018: University of Central Lancashire Equipment Fund Bid (£68,300), Co-I with Professor Linden Ball for the project ‘Equipment for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab’.
2018-2019: UCLan Graduate Internship Fund (£6200), Co-I with Professor Umesh Chauhan for the project ‘Resilience-building prevention program for young people’.
2017-2018: Experimental Psychology Society (£2,500), Co-I with Dr. Peter Moseley, for the project ‘The Temporal Processing of Auditory False Perceptions: An Event-Related Potential Investigation’.
2015-2016: ESRC-public engagement grant (£750), Co-I with Dr. Karen Lander for project ‘The Science of Emotion’ during the ESRC Festival of Social Science’, Museum of Science and Industry’.

Conferences & Events

Georgia Chronaki (2023). Preattentive processing of vocal anger in children with hyperactivity. Oral Presentation. Experimental Psychopathology and Neuro-Development (ExPAND) Group. Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, 5th September, King’s College London, UK.
Georgia Chronaki & Marsh, John (2023). Distraction by vocal emotion in children with symptoms of ADHD. Oral Presentation. Reading Emotions. Fluctuation and Change: implications for neurocognitive development and psychopathology, 15th-16th June, University of Reading, UK.
Georgia Chronaki & Marsh, John (2023). Auditory distraction by vocal anger in children and adolescents with inattention and hyperactivity. Poster Presentation (invited). Flux Congress, The Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 6-9th September, Santa Rosa, California, United States.
Georgia Chronaki (2022). The benefits of therapeutic play with children. Oral Presentation. Holy Family Roman Catholic Primary School, 19th January, Salford, Manchester, UK.
Georgia Chronaki (2021). Vocal emotion recognition in children with externalising and internalising behaviour problems. Oral presentation. Mood Disorders Centre, 26th November, University of Exeter, UK.
Georgia Chronaki (2021). Atypical Anger processing in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Implications for Primary Care. Oral presentation, Centre for Primary Care and Health Services Research (CPC&HSR), 16 February, University of Manchester, UK.
Georgia Chronaki, Fruzsina Soltesz, Nicholas Benikos and Edmund Sonuga-Barke J.E. (2019). An electrophysiological investigation of reinforcement effects in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Dissociating cue sensitivity from down-stream effects on target engagement and performance. Poster presentation. Flux Congress, The Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 29 August-1 September, New York, United States.
Georgia Chronaki, Michael Wigelsworth, Marc Pell & Sonja Kotz (2017). ‘Nature or Nurture? A study on native English children’s and adolescents’ ability to recognise vocal emotions from four foreign languages’. Oral Presentation, 29 Annual Convention, Association for Psychological Science (APS), May 25-28, Boston, United States.
Georgia Chronaki, Graeme Fairchild, Nicholas Benikos, Samantha Broyd, Matthew Garner, Margaret Thompson, Julie Hadwin & Edmund J.S. Sonuga-Barke (2016). Event-Related-Potentials to Emotional Stimuli in Children with Externalizing and Internalizing Psychopathology. Oral presentation, 3rd International Conference of the European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (ESCAN), 23-26 June, Porto, Portugal.
Chronaki G., Wigelsworth M., Pell, M. and Kotz S. (2015). ‘Is the ability to recognise vocally expressed emotions universal? A study on native English children’s ability to recognise vocal emotions from four foreign languages’. Oral Presentation, British Psychological Society Developmental & Social Section Annual Conference, 9-11 September, Manchester. UK.
Chronaki, G., Hadwin, Julie, Garner, Matthew, Pierre Maurage & Sonuga-Barke, Edmund (2015). ‘The Development of Emotion Recognition during Childhood’, Oral Presentation, 8th -10th July, International Society for Research on Emotion, Geneva, Switzerland.
Chronaki Georgia (2015). ‘Using Event-Related-Potentials to study Emotion Processing in Typical and Atypical Development’. 18 March, Section of Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience Seminar, School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, UK.
Chronaki Georgia (2015). ‘Emotion Processing and Event-Related-Potentials in ADHD’. Oral Presentation, 21 January, School of Psychology Departmental Seminar, University of Bergen, Norway.
Chronaki G., Benikos, N., Fairchild G. & Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2014). ‘Atypical Neural Responses to Vocal Emotion in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: An Investigation into Prosody Related Brain Potentials’. Poster Presentation, Eunethydis International ADHD Conference, Poster Presentation, 21-25 May, Istanbul, Turkey.
Chronaki, G., Benikos, N., Fairchild, G. & Sonuga-Barke, E. (2013). ‘Altered Neural Response to Vocal Anger Processing in Attention Deficit/- Hyperactivity Disorder is mediated by Symptoms of Conduct Problems’. Oral presentation, Biennial meeting of the International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE), 3-5 August, Berkeley, California, United States.
Chronaki G., Benikos, N., Fairchild G. & Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2013). ‘Reinforcement deficit in ADHD using the electrophysiological-Monetary Incentive Delay (e-MID) task’. Poster Presentation. Solent NHS Trust Annual General Meeting, 26 September, Southampton, UK.
Chronaki, G., Benikos, N., Fairchild, G. & Sonuga-Barke, E. (2013). ‘Altered Neural Response to Vocal Anger Processing in Attention Deficit/- Hyperactivity Disorder’. Oral presentation, 11th Annual meeting of the Southampton Neuroscience Group, 19th September, Southampton, UK.
Chronaki G., Benikos, N., Fairchild G. & Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2013). ‘Testing between competing models of reinforcement deficit in ADHD using the electrophysiological-Monetary Incentive Delay (e-MID) task: Deficient motivation versus hyposensitivity to incentives’. Poster Presentation. World ADHD Conference, 6-9 June 2013, Milan, Italy.
Chronaki G., Benikos, N., Fairchild, G., Helps, S., Broyd, S., Knowles, M., Thompson, M.J.J., & Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2013). ‘Isolating N400 as a Neural Marker of Vocal Anger Processing in Boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder’. Oral Presentation, Bilateral Alliance for Translational Science in ADHD (BATSA) meeting, 17-18, January, Southampton, UK.
Chronaki G., Broyd, S., Garner, M., Hadwin, J.A., Thompson, M.J.J., Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2012) ‘Latest developments in ADHD Neuroscience: Neural markers of anger processing’. Poster presentation, 2nd International ADHD Conference, 23-25 May, Barcelona, Spain.
Chronaki, G. Broyd, S., Garner, M., Hadwin, J., Thompson, M. & Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2011). ‘A neural marker of vocal anger processing in children’. Oral presentation, 9th Annual Southampton Neurosciences Group Meeting, ‘Neuroscientists of the Future’ session, University of Southampton, UK.
Chronaki G., Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S., Garner, M., Hadwin, J., Thompson, M. & Broyd, S. (2011) ‘The role of vocal emotion processing in atypical development’ Oral presentation, Bilateral ADHD Translational Science Agreement (BATSA) Meeting, 27-28 January, University of Ghent, Belgium
Chronaki, G., Broyd, S., Garner, M., Hadwin, J., Thompson, M. & Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2010). ‘Anger recognition in children with externalizing symptoms: An Event Related Potential study’. Oral presentation-award winner, 10th June, Annual Conference of the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, Southampton, UK
Chronaki G., Broyd, S., Garner, M., Hadwin, J., Thompson, M. & Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2010). ‘Anger related brain potentials and hyperactivity’. Poster presentation, Eunethydis International ADHD Conference 25-26 May, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Chronaki G., Broyd, S, Garner, M., Hadwin, J., Thompson, M., & Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S.(2010) ‘Electrophysiological correlates of anger recognition in children with externalizing symptoms’, Poster Presentation, 28 January, 7th National Conference of Research in Forensic Secure Units, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
Chronaki, G., Garner, M., Hadwin, J., Thompson, M. & Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2009). ‘The role of vocal emotion processing in externalizing problems of childhood’. Oral presentation, The International Society of Research in Emotion, 6-8 August, Leuven, Belgium.
Chronaki, G., Garner, M., Hadwin, J., Thompson, M. &Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2008). ‘Facial and vocal emotion processing in preschoolers with externalising symptoms’. Oral presentation, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, 17th June, Southampton, UK
Chronaki, G., Garner, M., Hadwin, J., Thompson, M. &Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2008). ‘The relationship between emotion recognition skills and preschoolers’ externalizing problems’. Poster presentation, 19th Meeting of the European Network of Hyperactivity Disorders, 2-5 October, Mannheim, Germany.
Chronaki, G., Garner, M., Hadwin, J., Thompson, M. &Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2008). ‘Emotion recognition skills in hyperactive preschoolers’. Poster presentation, Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Annual Conference, 6-7 June, Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, UK.
Chronaki, G., Garner, M., Hadwin J., & Thompson, M. & Sonuga-Barke E.J.S. (2007). ‘Emotional Faces’. Oral presentation, The Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Annual Research Day, Child and Family Health Centre, 10 October, Ashurst, UK
Chronaki, G., Garner, M., Hadwin, J., Thompson, M. & Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S. (2006). ‘Emotion processing in children with ADHD symptoms’. Oral presentation. Developmental Brain Behaviour Unit, School of Psychology, 5 December, University of Southampton, UK
Chronaki, G., Sonuga-Barke, E.J.S., Psychogiou, L., & Thompson, M. (2006). ‘Enhancing Partnerships with Parents: An open discussion with parents of children presenting difficult to manage behaviour’. Poster presentation, 1st International Conference in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 22-23 June, Roehampton University, London, UK.
Chronaki, G., Psychogiou, L., Thompson, M. & Sonuga-Barke E. J.S. (2006). Open Discussion Days: ‘Enhancing partnerships with parents of children with difficult behaviour’. Poster presentation, Postgraduate Student Psychology Conference, British Psychological Society, 22 March, Bournemouth University, UK.

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Dr Georgia Chronaki