My work aims to leverage novel digital technologies to further our understanding of adolescent development and address health inequalities. To this end I’ve developed simple games for tablets, web-browsers, and virtual reality headsets, which permit the measurement of motor skills and cognitive processes. I also developed the BiB: Age of Wonder data dashboard for Senior Leadership, allowing schools to identify and action the mental health needs of their student population in just a few clicks. I currently lead on evaluating the effectiveness of Mental Health Support Teams at improving adolescent mental health in schools. My current research interests also include the role social media plays in adolescent mental health and wellbeing.

More broadly, I'm interested in engaging young people and schools with science. Rather than using schools as participant pools, we aim to bring students closer to the scientific method, providing interactive lessons, workshops, and datasets. Through this approach, we hope to educate and inspire future generations of scientists from all backgrounds.

You can play a demo of my work here: https://www.fruitbatsplat.com/demo



Why you enjoy working at BiB

Collaborating with inspirational teenagers and teachers across Bradford to make the world a better place

Favourite toy when you were a child

Game Boy

Favourite pastime when not at work

Getting out into the mountains and going on an adventure

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Katy A. Shire, Alex Newsham, Atif Rahman, Dan Mason, David Ryan, Deborah A. Lawlor, Gail Opio-Te, Hannah Nutting, Jane West, John Pickavance, Josie Dickerson, Kate E. Pickett, Laura Lennon, Lydia Gunning, Mark Mon-Williams, Sean Smith, Simon Gilbody, Sufyan Dogra, Theresa Walsh, Rosemary McEachan, John Wright, (2024). Born in Bradford’s Age of Wonder cohort: protocol for adolescent data collection. Wellcome Open Research, 9(32), DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.20785.1,
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Ning Song, Siobhan Hugh-Jones, Robert M. West, John Pickavance and Ghazala Mir, (2023). The effectiveness of anti-stigma interventions for reducing mental health stigma in young people: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Cambridge University Press DOI: 10.1017/gmh.2023.34,
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John P. Pickavance, Oscar T. Giles, J. Ryan Morehead, Faisal Mushtaq, Richard M. Wilkie, Mark Mon-Williams, (2022). Sensorimotor ability and inhibitory control independently predict attainment in mathematics in children and adolescents. Journal of Neurophysiology, 127(4), 1026-1039. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00365.2021,
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John P. Pickavance, M. Mon-Williams, Faisal Mushtaq, J. Ryan Morehead, (2022). Proactive inhibition of goal-directed movements involves explicit changes to movement planning. bioRxiv DOI: 10.1101/2022.06.01.494317,
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Katy A. Shire , Jo Atkinson , Emily A. Williams , John Pickavance , Sara Magallón , Liam JB. Hill , Amanda H. Waterman , David A. Sugden & Mark Mon-Williams , (2021). Developing and Implementing a School-led Motor Intervention for Children with Handwriting Difficulties. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention, 14(3), 274-290. DOI: 10.1080/19411243.2020.1837047,
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John Pickavance, Arianne Azmoodeh, Andrew D Wilson, (2018). The effects of feedback format, and egocentric & allocentric relative phase on coordination stability. ScienceDirect 143-152. DOI: 10.1016/j.humov.2018.04.005,