Robyn Sellers-Morgan

Research summary

Project title: Evaluating the effectiveness of metacognitive training interventions

My PhD is an industry collaboration with BAE Systems, a technology-led defence organisation that develops and supports systems to deliver military capability manufacturing and protect national security.

Under the supervision of Dr Beth Richardson and Professor Linden Ball, my PhD applies a metacognitive framework to evaluate the effectiveness of current training systems at BAES, with the aim to improve personnel training in specialist aerospace contexts such as maintenance and tactical support, via bespoke technological solutions.

Previous research has shown that training systems tend to overlook individual differences in learning styles (for example variations of cognitive flexibility and adaptive thinking) and dispositional traits (such as confidence and risk-taking). It is proposed that, without training which accounts for these different learning trajectories, the end-point of high-quality performance for all individuals can be impacted. 

Using objective measures of uncertainty detection, such as verbal protocol analysis, I aim to identify markers of uncertainty, understand the relationship between individual differences and uncertainty and deploy systems to improve upon those using metacognitive awareness. Finally, it is my goal to extend these findings and apply this knowledge to team based decision-making/problem-solving to add to the growing research base for a collaborative meta-reasoning framework currently void from psychological literature. 

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Research Supervisor: Beth Richardson, Linden Ball
Student: Robyn Sellers-Morgan