Olga Fotakopoulou
Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology
School of Social Sciences
- Email:
- olga.fotakopoulou@bcu.ac.uk
- Phone:
- +44 (0)121 331 6441
Olga is a developmental psychologist and is interested in human development from birth to adolescence with a special interest in socio-cognitive, emotional and pro-social development. She has worked as a researcher of children’s development since 2004 and as a Counsellor in various educational and clinical settings.
Olga has been teaching and leading different modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level in her capacity as a lecturer in the area of Developmental and Educational Psychology. She has always been interested in advancing students’ development according to their personal needs and to prepare them with skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration and creativity.
Areas of Expertise
- Socio-cognitive and emotional development in children and adolescents
- Use of technology in early childhood
- Impact of use of touchscreen technology on various aspects of children development
- Moral development and reasoning in children and adolescents
- Development of empathy and altruism
Qualifications
- Post-doc in Development of Moral Reasoning
- PhD in Developmental Psychology
- MSc in Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- BSc in Psychology
Memberships
- Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy
- Chartered Psychologist of British Psychological Society
- Member of EARLI (European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction)
- Member of the ISPP (International Society of Political Psychology)
- Member of the Hellenic Psychological Society
- Member of the Hellenic Society for Behavioural Research
- Member of Psychological Society of Northern Greece
Teaching
Olga leads the Educational Psychology module (PSY 5026) which is offered to Level 5 students and the Lifespan Development (PSY 7061), offered to MSc students and it is delivered entirely on-line in the autumn semester. She also co-lead the MSc Psychology Dissertation (PSY 7057) in the spring semester.
Research
Since 2014, Olga has been working together with Dr Jane O'Connor from the School of Education and collaborators from Institutions in Australia, Sweden, Norway, Japan, Greece and Portugal on Techno-babies, an interdisciplinary research project about the use of touchscreens by young children (0-3 years of age). The pilot project had received internal funding from BCU and findings of this study have been presented in international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals and books. The team has developed new strands in their research and are currently exploring early years practitioners’ experiences and attitudes about the use of touchscreen technologies by young children and the team are designing the next steps and experiments exploring the impact of using touchscreen technology on various aspects of development.
In collaboration with Dr Jack Rogers (University of Birmingham) and Dr Catherine Baker (School of Art, BCU), Olga is initiating a new project to involve school-aged children and their parents which is called ‘Exploring the concept of a scientist’. The team will be collecting data on events taking place at the University and schools to explore children’s representations of scientists and understanding of their role using the Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST) and a semi-clinical interview with the children.
In collaboration with Dr Catherine Baker from ADM (Birmingham School of Art), Olga is developing a project titled ‘Backbone’ which is about the support and creative expression of adolescents diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis. Other collaborators are Dr Thanos Tsirikos (Leading spinal surgeon), Dr. Nina Morris (Human Geographer), Mr Kevin Reid (Director of Horticulture and Learning, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh).
In the framework of the European project ETHIKA (2014-2017), Olga represented UK and BCU participated as an associated partner. ETHIKA was about Ethics and values education in schools and kindergartens andwanted to foster critical thinking skills in children putting it at the centre of a straightforward, easily implementable teaching strategy.
Olga has been working as a researcher since 2004, after completing her MSc in Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, in research projects funded by EU. Her Master thesis was in collaboration with MIT in United States. Olga's PhD research on the developmental of political thinking and her post-doctorate research on bioethical reasoning in children and adolescents have been funded by Alexandros Onassis Foundation. She has participated in numerous national, international, EU and interdisciplinary research projects.
Postgraduate Supervision
Olga supervised Bethany Burton’s PhD research with the title: Exploring the development of bioethical reasoning in children and adolescents.
Publications
Journal articles
Hatzigianni, M., Fotakopoulou, O., Dardanou, M., Unstad, T., & O’Connor, J. (accepted for publication). ‘Early childhood educators’ attitudes and beliefs around the use of touchscreen technologies by children under three years of age in England, Norway and Greece’. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal.
Dardanou, M., Unstad, T., Brito, R., Dias, P., Sakata, Y., O’Connor, J., & Fotakopoulou, O. (in submission). Use of touchscreen technology by 0-3 year old children: Parents’ perspectives in Norway, Portugal and Japan. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.
Georgiadou, Tr., Fotakopoulou, O., & Pnevmatikos, D. (2018). Exploring bioethical reasoning in children and adolescents using focus groups methodology. SAGE Research Methods case psychology.
O’Connor, J. and Fotakopoulou, O. (2016) A threat to childhood innocence or the future of learning? Parents' perspectives on the use of touch-screen technology by 0-3 year olds in the UK. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 17 (2). pp. 235-247. ISSN 1463-9491
Georgiadou, Tr., Fotakopoulou, O., & Pnevmatikos (2015). Adolescents' preferences for organ allocation: The role of empathy and altruism in allocation judgments. European Journal of Developmental Psychology. DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2015.1010503. View online
Markoulis, D., & Fotakopoulou, O. (2012). The development of moral reasoning in children. In H. Bezevegis and S. Hatzichristou, Psychopaidia. Pedio: Athens.
Fotakopoulou, O., & Markoulis, D. (2011). Points of convergence between socio-moral reasoning and the conception of key political ideas. Psychology, 18 (4), 440-467.
Casasanto, D., Fotakopoulou, O., & Boroditsky, L. (2010). Space and time in the child’s mind: Evidence for a cross-dimensional asymmetry. Cognitive Science, 1-19.
Book chapters
O’Connor, J., Fotakopoulou, O., Hatzigianni, M. & Fridberg, M. (2019). ‘Parents’ perspectives on the use of touchscreen technology by 0-3 year olds in the UK, Sweden, Australia and Greece’. In and C. Gray, I. Palaiologou, (Eds), Early Learning in the Digital Age: Digital Pedagogy and Early Childhood. London: SAGE.
Fotakopoulou, O., & Mitchell, K. (2017). The Value Friendship: Collecting data in UK. In Feiner, Franz & Krammer, Johann & Pack, Irene & Resnik, Mojca & Straßegger-Einfalt Renate (Hg.), wert(e)voll wachsen. Ethische Bildung für eine nachhaltige, dialogische Zukunft, (pp. 183-190). Graz: LogoMedia.
Fotakopoulou, O., & Simms, D. (2017). The Value Respect: Collecting data in UK. In Feiner, Franz & Krammer, Johann & Pack, Irene & Resnik, Mojca & Straßegger-Einfalt Renate (Hg.), wert(e)voll wachsen. Ethische Bildung für eine nachhaltige, dialogische Zukunft, (pp. 191-195). Graz: LogoMedia.
Faniglione, D., Fotakopoulou, O., & Lowe, G. (2017). Psychology students as co-creators in designing an innovative case-study based learning resource. In: J. Branch, S. Hayes, A. Hørsted and C. Nygaard, (Eds.), Innovative teaching and learning in higher education. United Kingdom: Libri Publishing, pp. 257–268.
Fotakopoulou, O., & Kioseoglou, G. (2013). Exploring the relations between moral reasoning, cognitive adequacy and political reasoning in Greek adolescents. In Deliyianni, V, A. Mpaka and D. Moraiotou, and E. Figgou (Eds.), 9th Scientific Annals of Department of Psychology. Art of Text: Thessaloniki.
Fotakopoulou, Ο., & Markoulis, D. (2009). Distribution of water: Adolescents’ approach on an adults’ problem. In Dikaiou M., E. Georgaka and A. Xenikou (Eds.), 8th Scientific Annals of Department of Psychology, (pp.253-291). Art of Text: Thessaloniki.