Kate Nation

Professor Kate Nation is a leading academic in Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology and a Fellow of St John's College. She serves as Director of ReadOxford and the Language and Cognitive Development Research Group, and holds an Associate Head role for Personnel. Her research focuses on children's language and literacy development, particularly reading comprehension, word recognition, and the interplay between spoken and written language. Nation earned her DPhil from the University of York and has held academic roles since 1994, including a Lectureship at York before moving to Oxford in 2002. She leads a vibrant research team studying psycholinguistics, learning mechanisms, and developmental disorders. Key contributions include work on orthographic learning, contextual effects on reading, and interventions for comprehension difficulties. Her research uses eye-tracking and experimental methods to understand real-time language processing. Collaborations with ReadOxford and international teams address language development challenges in children with disorders such as dyslexia and developmental language disorder. Nation has supervised numerous graduate students and published extensively on cognitive development and educational outcomes.

• Education: BSc, DPhil (University of York)
• Affiliations: St John's College, ReadOxford, Language & Cognitive Development Group
• Key Research Themes: Reading development, psycholinguistics, developmental disorders, cognitive processes

Her recent work explores emotional language in children's writing, peer victimization linked to language disorders, and longitudinal outcomes for comprehension difficulties. Nation's research bridges theoretical and applied contexts, aiming to improve educational practices and support vulnerable learners.