Karin Madericova

Karin is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN), currently working on the Universal Classroom Project. Karin graduated from Aston in 2022 with a First-Class degree in BSc (Hons) Psychology with Placement Year, after which she completed her PhD at the IHN in the field of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 

Current Project:

'The Universal Classroom'

This project aims to produce and disseminate a universal screener for the assessment of individual strengths and weaknesses in core cognitive skills and socio-emotional processing in Key Stage 1 children. This assessment will allow for a more comprehensive understanding of individual learning profiles, with the potential to provide guidance for evidence-based interventions which can be implemented in educational settings (at the classroom or individual level). This universal screener is non-proprietary and will be available to use by any classroom across the UK, enabling teachers to make informed decisions about emerging learning needs for each child, regardless of diagnostic status.

PhD Project:

'Embracing Complexity in the Characterisation and Tracking of Neurodevelopment'

This project aimed to explore the cognitive and mental health profiles of neurodivergent adults, adopting a transdiagnostic dimensional approach with the objective to build on emerging data-driven accounts of neurodiversity. The findings indicated that individual profiles of strengths and weaknesses did not neatly align with traditional diagnostic categories, suggesting that diagnosis alone may not comprehensively capture the complexity and variability of neurodivergent functioning in adulthood. This project underscored the utility of transdiagnostic approaches for informing more inclusive, individualised frameworks for understanding and supporting neurodiversity. 

• Transdiagnostic approaches to neurodiversity across development; capturing heterogeneity, overlaps, and co-occurring conditions
• Data-driven methods (e.g., network analysis, cluster analysis)
• Cognitive strengths and weaknesses in neurodivergent populations
• Mental health in neurodivergent populations
• ADHD, dyslexia, autism