Biography
Anji Wilson is a Research Associate in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge. After obtaining a degree in Pathobiology at the University of Reading, followed by an MSc in Biological Anthropology at the University of Oxford, Anji joined the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge, carrying out research with Professor Nick Mackintosh on cognitive development and associated school attainment, a topic in which she obtained her doctorate in 1989. The results provided the first clear data that differences between ethnic groups in the UK in educational attainment were in danger of becoming endemic, a finding with direct implications for educational policy in terms of equality of opportunity.
Between 1994 and 2000 Anji was with the Winnicott Research Unit in the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge, researching the efficacy of short-term, home-based counselling support for first time mothers and also looking at the impact of maternal post-natal depression on the development of children, as well as working with researchers from the Park Hospital for Sick Children in Oxford on a study into the experiences of young people with Down's Syndrome. She also initiated and worked in conjunction with the Cambridge Mediation Service (formerly The Cambridge Family and Divorce Centre) on a project funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to evaluate school-based counselling support for children who had experienced parental separation or divorce.
In 2000 Anji joined the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge, working with Professor Martin Richards, the then Director, on a qualitative, interview-based study investigating connections between concepts of family and kinship and those of inheritance and genetics in young people. This project, entitled 'Understanding inheritance: kinship connections and genetics' was funded by the Wellcome Trust. In 2004 she joined a research team, led by Dr Claire Hughes, investigating the predictors of success in the transition to school, where she co-ordinated and participated in school research visits. She has considerable experience in carrying out psychometric assessments with children, as well as in interviewing family members.
Anji joined the Psychometrics Centre in 2009 to lead a project for the standardisation of a new revision of one of the UK's most widely used diagnostic assessments used by Educational Psychologists and other professionals for the diagnosis of childrens' special educational needs throughout the primary and secondary education system. Her special interests include singing, painting and dancing, particularly the Russian Ballet.
