Olly Robertson

Biography

I am a research assistant in The Oxford Psychological Interventions for Children and adolescents (TOPIC) research group at University of Oxford, working with Professor Cathy Creswell in reducing or reversing the negative impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on the emotional well-being of children in the UK. I am also a visiting scholar at the Department of Informatics, KCL, and a consultant with Committee for Children where I facilitate process model evaluations for tech-based emotion regulation paradigms in children. Previously, I was a research assistant in the Emotions and Social Relations research group at University of Oxford, working with Dr Danielle Shore and Professor Brian Parkinson. Our work explored how (un)regulated emotional facial expressions impact social interactions, trust, and decision-making in naturalistic dyadic interactions.

I am currently completing my doctoral research at Keele University, under the supervision of Dr Richard Stephens and Dr Alex Lamont. This research explores the as yet unanswered basic questions relating to emotion regulation in the daily lives of non-clinical populations, focussing primarily on spoken language behaviours.

Prior to this I was awarded my MSc in Language Sciences (specialism in Neuroscience and Communication) at University College London, and my BSc in Psychology with Japanese at the University of Central Lancashire.

Supervisors: Dr Richard Stephens and Dr Alex Lamont

Presentations

• Robertson, O., Robinson, S., & Stephens, R. (2018, September). Swearing as a response to pain: A cross-cultural comparison of British and Japanese participants. Paper presented at BPS Midlands Conference, Birmingham
• Robertson, O., Khan, S., & Stephens, R. (2018, July). Heart Rate Variability as a Biomarker for Emotion regulation: Is the Heart More than a Metronome? Paper presented at PsyPAG Conference, Huddersfield
• Robertson, O., Khan, S., & Stephens, R. (2018, April). “It Just Feels So Good” – The Effects of F**king (and Other Swearwords). Poster presented at the Institute of Liberal Arts and Science, Keele; winner of best science communication award
• Robertson, O., Khan, S., & Stephens, R. (2017, May). Mind, Mood, and Metaphor: The Theory of Constructed Emotion. Paper presented at the Faculty of Natural Sciences Conference, Keele: winner of best presentation award

Public Outreach

• Robertson, O. (2018, December). So how does being dead make you feel? The emotions of ghosts. South Cheshire College.
• Robertson, O. (2018, November). Can we ever really know what's real? (Epistemology) Alsager School Sixth Form, Alsager.
• Robertson, O. (2018, June). Zombie Neuropsychology. UNiFY Academic Session, Keele University.
• Robertson, O., Robinson, S., & Stephens, R. (2018, March). How to swear in Japanese. Stoke Psychologist-in-the-Pub.
• Robertson, O. (2018, February) Zombie Neuropsychology. South Cheshire College.
• Robertson, O. (2017, December) Zombie Neuropsychology. South Cheshire College.