Emma Carpendale

Emma Carpendale is a researcher at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), specialising in social-emotional learning and child development. She holds a PhD in Psychology (2024) and has contributed to major studies such as the New South Wales Child Development Study (NSW-CDS) and the Footprints in Time longitudinal study of Indigenous children. Her work focuses on measuring and fostering social-emotional competencies in middle childhood, with a particular emphasis on how these competencies predict academic success and mental health outcomes.

Her research spans educational psychology, developmental psychology, and psychopathology, often involving large population cohorts. Key areas of interest include program evaluation of social-emotional learning interventions, measurement invariance across demographic groups, and the application of statistical methods like item response theory. Carpendale collaborates with institutions such as QUT and the University of Technology Sydney, contributing to both academic publications and policy-oriented reports.

In 2025, she co-authored influential articles in British Journal of Educational Psychology and Journal of School Psychology, exploring the role of social-emotional skills in educational transitions and program effectiveness. Her work also extends to public engagement, as seen in her The Conversation article explaining the importance of social-emotional education in schools.