Leya George

Brief biography
I graduated with an MSci degree in Psychology and Language Sciences from UCL... and decided to stay for another 4 years! My research experience spans diverse areas: my 3rd-year dissertation evaluated a gamified digital intervention designed to remediate numerical difficulties for adults with aphasia. My 4th year dissertation involved undertaking a clinical placement at St. George's Hospital to explore the feasibiltiy of a CBT intervention to treat people with functional neurological disorder (FND). I am also involved with another research project as part of the Junior Researcher Programme - an initative designed to bring together Psychology students with early careers researchers to develop a project around a certain theme (Communication for us). Our JRP project explores adolescent attitudes towards predictive testing in psychiatry, for which we are developing a video game integrated into a focus group methodology. These experiences have informed my academic interests in mental health, intervention research, principles of gamification/the psychology of gaming, and digital wellbeing generally.
Current Research
My research interests concern adolescent wellbeing in digital contexts. Specifically, I am interested in how teenagers interact with different digital technologies such as social media and gaming, and how we can take advantage of these to support identity formation and exploration, and in turn promote better mental health.