Maria Pampaka

Dr. Maria Pampaka is a Professor at the University of Manchester, holding joint appointments in the Manchester Institute of Education and the Department of Social Statistics. Her research focuses on mathematics education, particularly learners’ attitudes and dispositions, advanced quantitative methods, and the application of complex systems theory. She has led projects on mathematics anxiety, gender equality measurement, and longitudinal survey analysis. Pampaka employs methodologies like Rasch modeling, missing data imputation, and agent-based simulations. She has collaborated internationally on studies ranging from regional gender gaps to tourist behavior analysis. Her work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to quality education and gender equality.

Her research interests span mathematics education, quantitative research methods, and social statistics. Notable projects include a systematic review of mathematics anxiety and the development of the Extended Regional Gender Gaps Index (eRGGI). She has also explored applications of machine learning in tourism and healthcare, such as predicting revisit intentions and optimizing hospital resource allocation during the pandemic.

• Projects: Systematic review of mathematics anxiety, eRGGI development, analysis of sexual assault survivor support needs, and requirements discovery for smart driver assistive technologies.
• Key methodologies: Rasch modeling, multilevel modeling, thematic analysis, agent-based simulations, and machine learning.
• Collaborations: Cross-disciplinary work with social scientists, engineers, and healthcare professionals internationally.

Pampaka’s work bridges education, statistics, and policy, aiming to inform equitable practices in learning and societal structures. She is engaged in impact initiatives like the Good Behavior Game evaluation and policy-informed gender equality research.