Members of CoGDeV lab attend the International Spatial cognition conference
Emily Farran and Sarah McCarthy attended the international Spatial Cognition Conference in Glasgow, Scotland in August 2026. They joined researchers from around the world to discuss developments in spatial cognition research.
Emily was excited to take on the role of Programme Committee Chair and Proceedings Editor, alongside Victor Schinazi and Angela Schwering.
During the conference, Emily led a symposium on “Spatial skills measurement for cognitive, developmental and educational research: Challenges and solutions” The symposium included presentations from herself, David Uttal, Joni Lakin and Stephanie Doner (with Nora Newcombe). The discussion highlighted challenges surrounding the reliability of spatial measures and the importance of robust approaches to measuring spatial skills.
Sarah McCarthy also presented her first PhD study as an oral presentation. Her presentation explored the importance of spatial abilities from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and highlighted their potential role in supporting educational outcomes.
A key theme emerging from the conference was that spatial training can support STEM skills, alongside recognition that spatial reasoning is not a single, uniform ability. Understanding individual differences in spatial reasoning is therefore an important consideration for future research and its application to education.
Related sustainable development goals
