Dr Kellyanne Findlay

Senior Teaching Fellow

Psychology

Personal statement

My academic background is in vision sciences and, after completing a PhD in 2002, I moved into a teaching-focused role at the University of Strathclyde in 2003. I have been Deputy Head of the Department of Psychological Sciences and Health since August 2021, and I am a Chartered Psychologist and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. From 2016 to 2022, I served as Course Leader for the MSc Psychology with a Specialisation in Business or Health conversion programme.

I lead and contribute to teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with a focus on student learning, inclusion, and development. My work places particular emphasis on designing equitable teaching and assessment practices that enable all students to engage meaningfully and demonstrate their learning effectively.

My research is now primarily pedagogical, with a particular focus on technology in higher education, including the use of generative AI (GenAI) and polling applications. It is also strongly student-led, exemplified by recently published work (Hussain and Findlay, 2025) examining how social identities shape presence, credibility and power in professional settings. Developed through an intentionally inclusive supervisory partnership, this research reflects my commitment to fostering equitable learning relationships and supporting students to produce work with meaningful social and organisational impact.

Expertise

Back to staff profile

Prize And Awards

Scottish Association of Minority Ethnic Educators Research Award: Recipient; 28/8/2025
Faculty Teaching Excellence Award: Recipient; 2021

More prizes and awards

Qualifications

Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) since 2011

Associate Fellow of the BPS since 2012.

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since March 2019

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2012

Publications

Back to staff profile

Publications

Understanding the power dynamics affecting black and minority ethnic females in leadership roles: Hussain Yasmeen, Findlay Kellyanne; Women's Studies International Forum Vol 109 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2025.103066
Flipping chaos : evaluating the (over)use of digital resources with a large 1st year undergraduate/freshman class: Findlay Kellyanne; The Journal of Interactive Technology & Pedagogy (2024)
Comparing the effectiveness of infographics and Microsoft Sway as lecture summary tools: Findlay Kellyanne; BPS Division of Academics, Researchers and Teachers in Psychology Annual Conference 2023 (2023)
Using AI to support student success: Findlay Kellyanne; RAISE conference 2023 (2023)
Visual system trivia quiz!: Findlay Kellyanne; (2023); https://doi.org/10.25416/NTR.24006297.v1
Retinal Neurons Card Game!: Findlay Kellyanne; (2023); https://doi.org/10.25416/NTR.24006354.v1

More publications

Teaching

Back to staff profile

Teaching

I lead the training and professional development programme for Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) in Psychology, ensuring that new GTAs receive a comprehensive induction covering professionalism, effective teaching practice, high quality assessment and feedback, and the standards required for invigilation. In addition, I design and deliver a HaSS Faculty training session for postgraduate research students who teach, enabling consistency and good practice across disciplines.

My teaching at both undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught levels is grounded in my expertise in vision science, with a particular focus on visual perception and the visual system. I teach students how visual information is processed from the eye to the brain, highlighting not only the underlying neural mechanisms but also the points at which these processes can break down. In addition to this systems-level approach, I cover core topics in visual perception, including the developmental trajectory of perceptual abilities in early infancy, and disorders of perception such as Alice in Wonderland Syndrome and Charles Bonnet Syndrome.

Alongside my work in vision science, I contribute to teaching in biological psychology through sessions on sex and gender. This includes a critical examination of evidence from human and animal research, enabling students to evaluate claims regarding biological influences on sex differences in behaviour.

Research

Back to staff profile

Research Interests

My pedagogical research interests include;

use of technology in teaching, e.g. use of GenAI in Higher Education; effectiveness of polling apps in teaching;
the impact of neurodivergence on learning and teaching;
students' perceptions of success/failure;
the impact of fear of failure / attitudes towards failure on student outcomes.

I am currently engaged in the following research projects:

the utility of GenAI prompts to enable students to personalise the learning experience
a qualitative investigation of the use of GenAI by neurodivergent people
the impact of growth mindset on feelings of failure

My discipline-specific research focusses on depth perception, specifically binocular (stereoscopic) depth perception, and the functional impact of poor or absent stereoscopic depth perception.