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Dr Katie Rix

PhD, MSc (Open), BA Hons (Cantab), CPsychol, FHEA

Profile summary

  • Regional Academic Staff
  • Staff Tutor in Psychology & Counselling
  • Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
  • School of Psychology & Counselling
  • Psychology
  • katie.rix

Professional biography

BA Hons in Social and Political Sciences  - University of Cambridge

MSc in Psychology - The Open University

PhD in Psychology - University of Greenwich

I've taught at the University of Greenwich and Essex, as well as working as an Associate Lecturer with the Open University since 2014, across multiple modules. As well as working in Psychology, I have worked in social care, social research and the charity sector. I was Principal Researcher / Research Manager at the National Children's Bureau from 2015 - 2017. I moved into my Staff Tutor role in September 2022. I am also a fully qualified dance teacher and examiner.

Research interests

My research interests are varied, but particularly relate to young children's social and cognitive development - specifically their social behaviour and peer relationships. My PhD research looked at children’s own perceptions of their social behaviour and my post-doc focused on children's social behaviour and their Theory of Mind. My thesis can be viewed at: https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/14130/4/Katie Rose Rix 2015 - redacted.pdf 

I am also interested in participatory research with children and young people which was a big part of my role at the National Children's Bureau. 

I am also keen to understand the learning experiences of students in higher education and how to enhance this. My current scholarship work relates to peer interactions in tutorials Does peer interaction in online tutorials impact the student experience? | FASS Centre for Scholarship and Innovation (open.ac.uk)

I have experience across a range of research such as: reading in foster families; children missing education; poverty and children's personal and social relationships; experiences of the youth justice system; the impact of children's centres; wellbeng measures.

Current research projects:

Principal Investigator: Children's views of their own behaviour. Katie Rix and Claire Monks. 

Co-Investigator of Pilot Study: What happens after leaving residential childcare? Research into young people’s experiences and outcomes post-placement at the Mulberry Bush School. OU Team: Heather Price, Caryn Onions, David Jones, Felicitas Rost, Katie Rix. Project Partners: School of Psychology and Counselling, Mulberry Bush School.

Teaching interests

I have taught across a range of modules in Psychology and Wellbeing and Education. This includes:

- Levels 1 to 3 psychology (including research methods and statistics)

- Research with children and young people (level 3)

- MSc level / MSc conversion developmental psychology and childhood studies

I currently teach on DE200. I am a Staff Tutor in London, overseeing DD210 and DE200 in our region, and am a member of the postgraduate module DD801 team. 

I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA. 

Publications

Exploring Children’s Self-Reports of Victimisation Experiences and Solitary, Prosocial, and Aggressive Behaviours (2024-09-22)
Rix, Katie and Monks, Claire P
Psychology International, 6(4) (pp. 868-889)

Friendships among young children: links with social behaviour (2024)
Monks, Claire P and Rix, Katie
Early Child Development and Care ((Early access))

Theory of Mind and Young Children’s Behaviour: Aggressive, Victimised, Prosocial, and Solitary (2023)
Rix, Katie; Monks, Claire.P and O'Toole, Sarah
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, Article 5892(10)

The contribution of cool and hot executive function to academic achievement, learning-related behaviours, and classroom behaviour (2020)
O'Toole, Sarah; Monks, Claire.P; Tsermentseli, Stella and Rix, Katie
Early Child Development and Care, 190(6) (pp. 806-821)

La aparición del cyberbullying en la infancia: la perspectiva de padres y profesores (The emergence of cyberbullying in childhood: Parent and teacher perspectives) (2016)
Monks, Claire.P; Mahdavi, Jess and Rix, Katie
Psicología Educativa, 22(1) (pp. 39-48)

Victimización entre iguales en los niños pequeños: vínculos con las relaciones entre los iguales y las habilidades socio-cognitivas [Peer victimisation among young children] (2016)
Monks, Claire P. and Rix, Katie
In: Yubero, Santiago; Larrañaga, Elisa and Navarro, Raúl eds. La violencia en las relaciones humanas: contextos y entornos protectores en menores. Estudios (156) (pp. 49-74)
ISBN : 9788490442388 | Publisher : Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha | Published : Cuenca

Fostering Potential: supplementary evaluation (2020-08)
Rix, Katie and Soar, Susan
The Fostering Network

‘Championing Education’: an initial evaluation of the Fostering Potential programme (2019-11)
Rix, Katie and Soar, Susan
The Fostering Network

Reading in foster families (2017-01)
Rix, Katie; Lea, Jo and Edwards, Amy
Book Trust and National Children's Bureau

Children missing education: Families’ experiences (2017)
Ryder, Rebekah; Edwards, Amy and Rix, Katie
The National Children's Bureau