Dr Katie Rix

Professional biography

BA Hons in Social and Political Sciences  - University of Cambridge

MSc in Psychology - The Open University

PhD in Psychology - University of Greenwich

I've taught at the University of Greenwich and Essex, as well as working as an Associate Lecturer with the Open University since 2014, across multiple modules. As well as working in Psychology, I have worked in social care, social research and the charity sector. I was Principal Researcher / Research Manager at the National Children's Bureau from 2015 - 2017. I moved into my Staff Tutor role in September 2022. I am also a fully qualified dance teacher and examiner.

Research interests

My research interests are varied, but particularly relate to young children's social and cognitive development - specifically their social behaviour and peer relationships. My PhD research looked at children’s own perceptions of their social behaviour and my post-doc focused on children's social behaviour and their Theory of Mind. My thesis can be viewed at: https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/14130/4/Katie Rose Rix 2015 - redacted.pdf 

I am also interested in participatory research with children and young people which was a big part of my role at the National Children's Bureau. 

I am also keen to understand the learning experiences of students in higher education and how to enhance this. My current scholarship work relates to peer interactions in tutorials Does peer interaction in online tutorials impact the student experience? | FASS Centre for Scholarship and Innovation (open.ac.uk)

I have experience across a range of research such as: reading in foster families; children missing education; poverty and children's personal and social relationships; experiences of the youth justice system; the impact of children's centres; wellbeng measures.

Current research projects:

Principal Investigator: Children's views of their own behaviour. Katie Rix and Claire Monks. 

Co-Investigator of Pilot Study: What happens after leaving residential childcare? Research into young people’s experiences and outcomes post-placement at the Mulberry Bush School. OU Team: Heather Price, Caryn Onions, David Jones, Felicitas Rost, Katie Rix. Project Partners: School of Psychology and Counselling, Mulberry Bush School.

Teaching interests

I have taught across a range of modules in Psychology and Wellbeing and Education. This includes:

- Levels 1 to 3 psychology (including research methods and statistics)

- Research with children and young people (level 3)

- MSc level / MSc conversion developmental psychology and childhood studies

I currently teach on DE200. I am a Staff Tutor in London, overseeing DD210 and DE200 in our region, and am a member of the postgraduate module DD801 team. 

I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA.