Role
Gayle Dillon is a Principal Lecturer in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University. She teaches on the undergraduate single and combined honours psychology degrees and the MSc in Applied Child Psychology. Her teaching and research interests cover developmental and forensic psychology, with a focus on children and adults with additional support needs in educational and forensic settings.
Career overview
Before becoming a lecturer, Gayle worked as a research fellow at NTU on a variety of projects exploring the use of ICT in educational settings. She completed her PhD in 2008 which explored the use of imagination in children with autism.
Research areas
Her current research interests include:
- Developmental psychology (e.g. children and adults with autism spectrum disorders and school adjustment).
- Forensic psychology (e.g. vulnerable prison populations and the impact of peer support groups in forensic settings).
Her previous research has explored:
- The abilities of children with autism, with particular reference to imagination
- The impact of digital technologies on behaviour in formal and informal education settings and support for learners with special educational needs (autism)
- Developmental trends in children's perception of risk with specific reference to child pedestrian behaviour
- The transition from mainstream primary to secondary school for children with an autistic spectrum disorder
- Led by Professor Jean Underwood, she assisted with development of a Maturity Modelling approach to capture institutional and individual behavioural patterns, which has been used by Nottingham and Sheffield Hallam Universities and was been adopted as a core tool by the Department for Education and Skills, the National College of School Leadership and Ofsted.
External activity
Sponsors and collaborators
- HMP Whatton
- HMP Stafford
- Primary schools in Nottingham and Derby