Dr Joshua March
Teaching Fellow
Psychology
Personal statement
Personal statement
I am currently a Teaching Fellow in Psychology at the University of Strathclyde. Prior to this I was the primary Research Fellow on the ESRC project “Self-referencing in the classroom: The influence of self-cues on children’s information processing and retention” (2020 – 2023) at Abertay University with Professor Sheila Cunningham. Between 2017 and 2020 I was a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Dundee.
Research
My first research interest is cognitive development – more specifically I look at executive functions, self-referencing effects and social learning in children, and how these change with age.
My second main research interest is the psychology of learning in Higher Education. In this vein I conduct research on statistics anxiety, metacognition and the impact of Gen-AI on learning.
Teaching
I teach / have taught at the following levels for the BA Psychology course and PGT programmes:
Year 1
- C8106 Psychology 1B Tutorials
Year 2
- Tutorials at Level 2
Year 3
- C8321 - Research Methods and Data Analysis
- C8305 / C8428 – Development / Honours Development
- C8304 / C8433 - Cognition / Honours Cognition (Class Lead)
Year 4
- C8426 / C8427 Dissertation supervision / Joint Hons Dissertation supervision
PGT
- C8983 Dissertation supervision
- C8981 / C8923 Social and Developmental Psychology
Academic Citizenship
- Year 3 Tutor
- Department Ethics Committee Member
- Departmental Gen-AI Working Group Member
- Assessment Review Guidance Project Group Member
- Academic Affairs Committee Member
- GBV First Responder
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Prize And Awards
- Shortlist, Strathclyde Teaching Excellence Awards
- Recipient
- 29/4/2024
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Publications
- Using the Reasoned Action Approach to predict students' misuse of generative artificial intelligence in the production of university assessments
- Elliott Mark A, McGroarty Allan, Anderson Muriel, Burns Niamh, Gill Julia, McLaughlin Emma, Findlay Kelly, Hamilton David, March Joshua, Butler Stephen H
- British Journal of Educational Studies (2026)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2026.2704595
- Neurodivergent staff and students’ experiences of using Vevox
- Jenkins Laura, King Allyson, Findlay Kelly, Maskew Kathryn, O'Connor Paddy, Savickaite Sarune, March Joshua
- Advance HE Teaching and Learning Conference 2026 (2026)
- Why do self-referent cues facilitate mathematical word problem-solving? Insights from eye tracking
- March Joshua J, McLean Janet F, Ross Josephine, Kuipers Jan R, Cunningham Sheila J
- PLoS ONE Vol 21 (2026)
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0346703
- Specifying designers' empathy experiences in Virtual Reality : a literature review
- Grech Amy, Wodehouse Andrew, Brisco Ross, March Joshua, Hamilton David
- International Journal of Design Creativity and Innovation Vol 14, pp. 1-25 (2026)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/21650349.2025.2592710
- Mathematics, misconceptions, and mental blocks : a thematic analysis of statistics anxiety in university psychology students
- Hamilton David, March Joshua
- (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8cw3h_v2
- A network analysis of statistics anxiety symptoms and their antecedents in UK Higher Education students
- March Joshua J, Hamilton David, McCormack Dawn, Brisco Ross, Grech Amy
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Vol 1547, pp. 220-232 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.15350
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Professional Activities
- BPS Scottish Branch Undergraduate Conference 2026
- Organiser
- 18/4/2026
- Investigating the impact of Gen-AI source on HE students’ perceptions of learning
- Speaker
- 10/7/2025
- Stories from Strathclyde: Celebrating our work with children and young people
- Participant
- 15/5/2025
- Understanding statistics anxiety among Higher Education psychology students: A mixed-methods approach.
- Speaker
- 11/9/2024
Projects
- Cue-based judgements of AI-generated text in autistic and allistic adults
- Findlay, Kelly (Principal Investigator) March, Joshua (Co-investigator) Hamilton, David (Co-investigator) Elliott, Mark (Co-investigator) Butler, Stephen (Co-investigator) McGroarty, Allan (Co-investigator)
- This project investigates how autistic and allistic adults judge whether academic texts have been written by a human or generated by ChatGPT. Rather than focusing only on accuracy, the study examines the cues participants use when making these judgements, including clarity, coherence, formulaic structure, naturalness, and authorial voice. Participants classify a set of human-written and AI-generated academic text extracts, rate their confidence, and evaluate each text on these cue dimensions. The project aims to understand whether different cue-use patterns help explain individual differences in AI-text detection, and whether autistic and allistic participants rely on these cues in different ways.
- 01-Jan-2026 - 30-Jan-2027
- Personality, perceived acceptability, and students’ decisions to use generative artificial intelligence in higher education
- Findlay, Kelly (Principal Investigator) Hamilton, David (Co-investigator) McGroarty, Allan (Co-investigator) March, Joshua (Co-investigator) Elliott, Mark (Co-investigator) Butler, Stephen (Co-investigator)
- This research examines how higher education students make decisions about using generative artificial intelligence for different academic tasks. Using a scenario-based survey, the study explores whether Big Five personality traits are associated with students’ likelihood of using GenAI, and with their perceptions of usefulness, risk, trust, confidence, clarity of guidance, and acceptability. The research aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of student GenAI use by focusing on task-specific judgements rather than general use alone.
- 01-Jan-2026 - 30-Jan-2027
- Beyond adoption: Task-Specific use and non-use of Generative Artificial Intelligence among neurotypical and neurodivergent students
- Findlay, Kelly (Principal Investigator) Butler, Stephen (Co-investigator) March, Joshua (Co-investigator) Hamilton, David (Co-investigator) Elliott, Mark (Co-investigator) McGroarty, Allan (Co-investigator)
- This research project examines how higher education students decide whether to use or avoid generative artificial intelligence for specific academic tasks. Rather than treating GenAI use as a general behaviour, the study focuses on task-level decision-making, exploring how factors such as assessment relevance, ambiguity, time pressure, writing demand, perceived usefulness, risk, trust, confidence, and clarity of guidance shape students’ willingness to use GenAI. The project also considers whether these decision processes differ between neurotypical and neurodivergent students, with the aim of informing more inclusive and responsible guidance around GenAI use in higher education.
- 01-Jan-2026 - 30-Jan-2027
- Supporting Responsible GenAI Use in Higher Education: A Pre-Post Evaluation of Student-Facing Guidance Resources
- Findlay, Kelly (Principal Investigator) Keown, Sophie (Co-investigator) Elliott, Mark (Co-investigator) McGroarty, Allan (Co-investigator) Butler, Stephen (Co-investigator) March, Joshua (Co-investigator) Hamilton, David (Co-investigator) Thomson, Elizabeth (Co-investigator)
- This project evaluates student-facing guidance designed to support responsible use of generative AI in higher education. Using a pre-post design, it examines whether a quick guide and reflective checklist improve students’ understanding of appropriate GenAI use, academic integrity expectations, confidence, intentions, and self-reported practices. The study also assesses how acceptable and useful students find the resources, drawing on the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability and the Theory of Planned Behaviour.
- 01-Jan-2026 - 30-Jan-2027
- Behind the Prompts: Insights into the students’ thinking and the AI-driven learning
- Hamilton, David (Principal Investigator) March, Joshua (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2025 - 31-Jan-2025
- How perceived expertise impacts student's evaluation and learning of information from humans vs AI
- March, Joshua (Principal Investigator)
- Research Interns @ Strathclyde award with Alex Bourke.
- 01-Jan-2024 - 31-Jan-2024