July 2021

Thrilled to have been awarded an EPS award (£10k) working with the Jones and Silas Lab, Middlesex, to investigate the effects of temporal expectation on memory in aging using EEG. Can’t wait to get stuck in on 1 Sep 2021!

July 2020

A successful year of research funding! I secured a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship, commencing September 2020, to continue my work looking at lifespan changes in explicit and implicit memory. This project will look in more detail at interactions with depth of processing during encoding, and interactions with processing requirements at retrieval. On top of this I am excited to be part of a large international team funded by a major grant from the Dunhill Medical Trust to systematically examine the effect of music therapy on cognitive function in older adults with various stages of impairment.

September 2019

We are very excited to start our new project funded by the BIAL Foundation – a two-year project looking at the effect of rhythmic encoding on recognition memory using behavioural and EEG measures. In collaboration with the Jones & Silas Lab, Middlesex University, and Research Assistant Wayne Anderson.

June 2019

A highly successful workshop delivered by Dr Ward to members of the University of the Third Age (U3A), as part of the ongoing partnership between the U3A and Middlesex University. Memory Matters: Preservation and Enhancement over the lifespan.

April 2019

Excellent presentation at the 5th International Aging and Cognition Conference in beautiful Zurich, for which our poster won the Presidential Poster Award! Explicit and implicit memory in aging: Effects of attention and processing style. (Ward*, Berry, & Shanks)

November 2018

Wonderful coverage of the Science Museum Project on BBC Turkey!

Invited comment for an article in the Guardian – How to avoid losing your memory in the digital age.

November 2018

We are very excited to have won the opportunity to conduct our research during a residence at the Science Museum, London. The project, how much of what we see do we remember?, took place within the Live Science Gallery for 6-weeks over October-November, and was a collaboration between Dr Ward, Dr Christopher Berry (University of Plymouth) and Prof David Shanks (UCL). The aim is to map changes in explicit and implicit memory over the lifespan, and explore interactions with attention and processing style. Over 1000 participants aged 12-82 years took part, and findings will be posted when available.

A big thank you to the dedicated team of Research Assistants and student helpers. We are also grateful to the Experimental Psychology Society for funding the project (Small Grant Scheme funding awarded to Dr Ward).

October 2017

A highly energetic and positive public lecture delivered by Dr Ward to members of the University of the Third Age (U3A), as part of the ongoing partnership between the U3A and Middlesex University. Coverage in the U3A blog.