معرفی
Dr. Lily FitzGibbon is a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Stirling, specializing in learning and decision-making under uncertainty in children and adults. Her research focuses on curiosity, anxiety, adventurous play, and counterfactual reasoning. She joined Stirling in 2022 after postdoctoral roles at the University of Birmingham, University of Southern California, University of Reading, and University of Exeter. She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Sheffield (2015), examining cognitive flexibility in children. A strong advocate for open science, she co-founded the ReproducibiliTea journal club and contributed to the interdisciplinary iCog network. She teaches Developmental Psychology and supervises research projects. Her recent Froebel Trust-funded project developed an illustrated toolkit for assessing children’s perspectives on adventurous play.
Research Interests: Dr. FitzGibbon investigates behavioral, cognitive, and emotional responses to uncertainty, including curiosity-driven exploration, risk-taking, and strategic reasoning. Her work bridges developmental and cognitive psychology, emphasizing executive processes and long-term effects on learning/wellbeing. Key themes include adventurous play’s role in anxiety prevention, counterfactual thinking in decision-making, and methodologies for measuring play behavior in schools.
Grants & Projects: She led the Froebel Trust project "Illustrating Adventurous Play for Children's Self-Report", resulting in a validated play assessment tool. Her research has been supported by grants from the British Psychological Society and Economic and Social Research Council. She contributes to the Cognition in Complex Environments research group at Stirling, focusing on real-world decision-making challenges.
Publications Trends: Recent articles explore uncertainty tolerance in haunted house experiences, parent perceptions of school play environments, and reliability of behavioral research methods. Her work frequently addresses methodological rigor and translational applications of developmental research.
Awards: While no named awards listed, her contributions to open science initiatives like ReproducibiliTea highlight her commitment to scientific integrity. She was recognized as a Rising Star in Cognitive Development by the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (2021).
