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Professor Sheila Cunningham is a leading academic in social cognition and developmental psychology at Abertay University, within the Department of Sociological and Psychological Sciences. She joined the university in 2011 after completing her PhD and post-doctoral research at the University of Aberdeen. Her research focuses on self-processing biases, particularly how self-referential cues influence learning and memory across the lifespan, and the impact of gender stereotypes on educational choices among adolescents.
She has secured significant grants from prestigious organizations such as the ESRC, ERC, Leverhulme Trust, and Carnegie Trust. Her work bridges academic research with practical applications, including teacher training programs and policy engagement through initiatives like the Scottish Government’s Gender Equalities Taskforce. Professor Cunningham is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Memory.
Key research themes include: self-reference effects in memory, gender stereotype development, and applying cognitive biases to improve educational outcomes. She leads Abertay’s MSc Research Methods in Psychology program from 2025 and has supervised students on modules like PSY216 and PSY314. Her outreach efforts include public lectures and workshops, such as the Leverhulme Public Lecture series and engagement with organizations like the YMCA.
Recent studies explore topics like ADHD’s impact on self-processing, the role of pronouns in mathematical problem-solving, and social learning biases in adolescents. Grants include a 2023 Leverhulme Trust award (£227,860) and a 2020 ESRC grant (£484,575). Her work has been published in journals like Child Development, Cognitive Science, and Psychological Science.
