Dr Yvonne Skipper

Senior Lecturer in Psychology (People, Place & Social Change)

Biography

I am currently employed as a Senior Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Education. My research primarily focusses on social influences on learning. For example, I am interested in exploring views of intelligence, the impact of feedback on learning, how we deal with failure and mental wellbeing. I am particularly interested in applied research, working with partner organisations to co-create interventions to improve educational outcomes.

I am a member of the People, Place and Social Change research and teaching group in the School of Education. I joined Glasgow University in 2019. Before this I worked as a Lecturer at Keele University and a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Royal Holloway University of London. I completed my ESRC funded PhD at the University of Kent in 2011.

I am passionate about knowledge exchange, engagement and outreach and deliver a variety of workshops and presentations for children and adults, including the ‘Psychology of Superheroes’.

I also run a project called ‘White Water Writers’ which gives groups of people the chance to collaboratively write and publish a full-length novel in a week. The writers plan, write, proofread and publish their novel in one week. It is then placed for sale online with profits going to authors and a book signing event is held where family and friends can celebrate their achievement. More than 2000 people have now participated in the project. This includes primary and secondary school pupils, looked after children and young and adult offenders. The project has demonstrable educational, social and psychological benefits for young people. You can find more information here: www.whitewaterwriters.com

Primary school students holding copies of their novel

(Image credit Stoke Sentinel)

Research interests

My research focusses on the social influences on learning. I am interested in how learners view intelligence and how this impacts their learning, subject choice, academic performance and response to failure. I am interested in understanding how students respond to feedback and how teachers choose to deliver it.

Another strand of my research focuses on how university students’ sense of belonging can impact their mental health and wellbeing. I have recently been working with collaborators at Student Minds and Keele University to explore this.

I am also interested in literacy. I have worked with Stoke on Trent City Council to explore barriers which parents perceive in reading with children and how these can be overcome and together we created a video to help them to overcome these barriers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RrVzktX1B4

I have also worked with a team to co-create a toolkit to encourage children to believe that they can improve their literacy in their first year at school https://www.keele.ac.uk/media/keeleuniversity/facnatsci/schpsych/cyptemp/Stoke%20Reads%20Mindset%20Kit%20-%20Web%20Version.pdf.

I also run and research the White Water Writers project, which gives groups of young people the chance to collaboratively write and publish a novel in a week. The project has demonstrable educational, social and psychological benefits for young people. Novels produced by our previous authors can be found here and some of the cover art can be seen below https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-T-M-Cooks/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AT.M.+Cooks

The covers of the novels

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2012

Number of items: 37.

2025

Hattersley, Michael, Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439, Douglas, Karen M. and Jolley, Daniel (2025) The interplay between economic hardship, anomie, and conspiracy beliefs in shaping anti-immigrant sentiment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, (Accepted for Publication)

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2025) ‘I'd probably scroll by’: an exploration of young people's views on spotting and stopping misinformation. Children and Society, (doi: 10.1111/chso.12962) (Early Online Publication)

Bagnall, Charlotte L., James, Lucy A. and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2025) "I shouldn’t really be here”: university students’ perceptions and experiences of transitioning to university with a contextual offer admission. Higher Education Quarterly, 79(2), e70003. (doi: 10.1111/hequ.70003)

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2025) Fighting fake news: the role of education. Assessment and Development Matters, (Accepted for Publication)

2024

Butorova, Hana, Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Hand, Christopher ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1536-4005 (2024) A Systematic Review of Digital Risk and Mitigations in Children Aged 8 to 12. Documentation. School of Education, University of Glasgow, Glasgow UK. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.349767).

Wen, Zhipeng, Hand, Christopher ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1536-4005 and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2024) Enhancing Reading Comprehension, Reading Motivation and Reducing Learning Anxiety Using “Hungry Rabbit”. Developmental Psychology Section Annual Conference 2024, Glasgow, UK, 11-13 Sep 2024.

2023

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439, Jolley, Daniel and Reddington, Joseph (2023) ‘But wait, that isn't real’: a proof-of-concept study evaluating ‘Project Real’, a co-created intervention that helps young people to spot fake news online. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 41(4), pp. 371-384. (doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12456) (PMID:37386791)

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Fay, Michael (2023) The relationship between the sense of belonging, mental wellbeing and stress in students of law and psychology in an English University. European Journal of Legal Education, 4(1), pp. 5-26.

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2023) My child the hero: how a collaborative writing project changes prisoners' self-concept and family connection. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 62(4), pp. 233-254. (doi: 10.1080/10509674.2023.2193435)

2022

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Fox, Claire (2022) Boys will be boys: young people’s perceptions and experiences of gender within education. Pastoral Care in Education, 40(4), pp. 391-409. (doi: 10.1080/02643944.2021.1977986)

Bagnall, Charlotte Louise, Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Fox, Claire Louise (2022) Primary-secondary school transition under Covid-19: exploring the perceptions and experiences of children, parents/guardians, and teachers. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(3), pp. 1011-1033. (doi: 10.1111/bjep.12485) (PMID:35132610) (PMCID:PMC9111429)

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2022) Open dialogue peer review: A response to Professor Lucas. Psychology of Education Review, 4(1), pp. 29-32.

de Carvalho, Eloise and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2022) Interpreting young people’s self-expression through characters and relationships in collaborative creative writing. Support for Learning, 37(1), pp. 144-160. (doi: 10.1111/1467-9604.12399)

Fay, Michael and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2022) “I was able to ask for help when I became stressed rather than sitting alone and struggling”: psychology and law students’ views of the impact of identity and community on mental wellbeing. Law Teacher, 56(1), pp. 20-36. (doi: 10.1080/03069400.2021.2020507)

2021

Rowley, Martin and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2021) Student and staff expectations and experiences of a UK–China Transnational Education collaboration. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 13(5), pp. 1374-1387. (doi: 10.1108/JARHE-01-2020-0021)

Jolley, Daniel, Douglas, Karen M., Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439, Thomas, Eleanor and Cookson, Darel (2021) Measuring adolescents’ beliefs in conspiracy theories: development and validation of the Adolescent Conspiracy Beliefs Questionnaire (ACBQ). British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39(3), pp. 499-520. (doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12368) (PMID:33556990)

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Pepler, Debra J. (2021) Knowledge mobilization: stepping into interdependent and relational space using co-creation. Action Research, 19(3), pp. 588-605. (doi: 10.1177/1476750320960810)

Yuka, Masda and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2021) ‘Book in a Week’ - Can Creative Writing Enhance Language Learning and Learner Confidence in Students? In: Third JAAL in JACET Conference (JAAL in JACET 2020), 5-6 Dec 2020, pp. 50-56.

Bagnall, Charlotte Louise, Fox, Claire Louise, Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Oldfield, Jeremy (2021) Evaluating a universal emotional-centred intervention to improve children's emotional well-being over primary-secondary school transition. Advances in Educational Research and Evaluation, 2(1), pp. 113-126. (doi: 10.25082/AERE.2021.01.003)

Bagnall, Charlotte Louise, Fox, Claire Louise and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2021) When is the ‘optimal’ time for school transition? An insight into provision in the US. Pastoral Care in Education, 39(4), pp. 348-376. (doi: 10.1080/02643944.2020.1855669)

2020

de Carvalho, Eloise and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2020) A two-component growth mindset intervention for young people with SEND. Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs, 20(3), pp. 195-205. (doi: 10.1111/1471-3802.12472)

Bagnall, Charlotte Louise, Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Fox, Claire Louise (2020) ‘You're in this world now’: students’, teachers’, and parents’ experiences of school transition and how they feel it can be improved. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(1), pp. 206-226. (doi: 10.1111/bjep.12273)

2019

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Douglas, Karen M. (2019) Examining teachers’ ratings of feedback following success and failure: a study of Chinese English teachers. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(4), pp. 804-817. (doi: 10.1111/bjep.12261) (PMID:30734921)

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2019) Higher education psychology teacher of the year: Finalist case study 2019. Psychology Teaching Review, 25(2), pp. 114-117.

de Carvalho, Eloise and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2019) “We’re not just sat at home in our pyjamas!”: a thematic analysis of the social lives of home educated adolescents in the UK. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 34(3), pp. 501-516. (doi: 10.1007/s10212-018-0398-5)

Hulme, J.A., Stanyard, R., Kent, A. and Skipper, Y. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2019) Making a difference with psychology: case study. In: Kahn, Peter and Anderson, Lorraine (eds.) Developing Your Teaching: Towards Excellence. Series: Key guides for effective teaching in higher education. Routledge: New York, pp. 39-40. ISBN 9781138591189

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and de Carvalho, Eloise (2019) “I have seen the opportunities that science brings”: encouraging girls to persist in science. Educational Forum, 83(2), pp. 199-214. (doi: 10.1080/00131725.2019.1576820)

2017

Cruwys, Tegan, Gaffney, Amber M. and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2017) Uncertainty in transition: The influence of group cohesion on learning. In: Mavor, Kenneth I., Platow, Michael J. and Bizumic, Boris (eds.) Self and Social Identity in Educational Contexts. Routledge: London. ISBN 9781315746913

Kent, Alexandra, Berry, Donna M., Budds, Kirsty, Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Williams, Helen L. (2017) Promoting writing amongst peers: establishing a community of writing practice for early career academics. Higher Education Research and Development, 36(6), pp. 1194-1207. (doi: 10.1080/07294360.2017.1300141)

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Leman, Patrick J. (2017) The role of feedback in young people’s academic choices. International Journal of Science Education, 39(4), pp. 453-467. (doi: 10.1080/09500693.2017.1294783)

2016

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Douglas, Karen M. (2016) The impact of a selective entry examination on children's feelings as they approach the transition to secondary school. British Educational Research Journal, 42(6), pp. 945-961. (doi: 10.1002/berj.3242)

Leman, Patrick J., Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439, Watling, Dawn and Rutland, Adam (2016) Conceptual change in science is facilitated through peer collaboration for boys but not for girls. Child Development, 87(1), pp. 176-183. (doi: 10.1111/cdev.12481)

2015

Kent, A. and Skipper, Y. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2015) Making a difference with psychology: reporting on a module to develop psychological literacy in final year undergraduates. Psychology Teaching Review, 21(2), pp. 35-47.

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Douglas, Karen (2015) The influence of teacher feedback on children's perceptions of student-teacher relationships. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(3), pp. 276-288. (doi: 10.1111/bjep.12070)

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2015) An evaluation of an intervention to change first-year psychology students’ theory of intelligence. Psychology Teaching Review, 21(2), pp. 69-80.

2012

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 and Douglas, Karen (2012) Is no praise good praise? Effects of positive feedback on children's and university students’ responses to subsequent failures. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(2), pp. 327-339. (doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8279.2011.02028.x)

Douglas, Karen M. and Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2012) Subtle linguistic variation in feedback. In: Sutton, M.R., Hornsey, M. and Douglas, K.M. (eds.) Feedback The Communication of Praise, Criticism, and Advice. Peter Lang. ISBN 9781433105128

This list was generated on Sat Jun 14 12:16:20 2025 BST.

Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Research Reports or Papers | Conference or Workshop Item | Conference Proceedings

Number of items: 37.

Articles

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2025) Fighting fake news: the role of education. Assessment and Development Matters, (Accepted for Publication)

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2022) Open dialogue peer review: A response to Professor Lucas. Psychology of Education Review, 4(1), pp. 29-32.

Skipper, Yvonne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7011-3439 (2019) Higher education psychology teacher of the year: Finalist case study 2019. Psychology Teaching Review, 25(2), pp. 114-117.

Book Sections

Research Reports or Papers

Conference or Workshop Item

Conference Proceedings

This list was generated on Sun Jun 15 14:09:24 2025 BST.

Grants

Year

Total amount

Funder and Title

2020

£40,000

Not Equal: Tackling Fake News via Fake People: Co-creating a toolkit to help young people recognise fake news

2020

£2,500

Higher Horizons: How do contextual admissions impact student experience of university?

2020

£1,700

University of Glasgow Chancellor’s Fund: White Water Writers with University of Glasgow students

2020

£1,400

ESRC Impact Acceleration Covid 19: Creative Writing in Prisons.

2019

£1,000

ESRC Festival of Social Science: Psychology in Action. Funding to run outreach activity giving young people the chance to use psychology to solve real problems in their community.

2018

£9,500

British Academy: Development and validation of a conspiracy theory belief questionnaire for adolescents

2017

£66, 547

Higher Horizons and NCOP: White Water Writers. Funding to run the project in 35 local schools and evaluate its’ impact.

2017

£4,869

Society for Research in Higher Education: “Why not me?” – The Extent to which Students’ Academic Identity impacts their sense of community and mental health.

2017

£7,715

Higher Horizons and NCOP: Are you App4it?: Funding to develop and run a project giving school students the chance to develop their own apps.

2015

£49,000

SHINE: White Water Writers for Disadvantaged Young People. Funding to run the project in a number of local schools and evaluate the longer term impact on literacy.

2015

£6,600

Earnest Cook: White Water Writers

2015

£22,000

HEFCE and UnLTD: White Water Writers

2014

£32,000

Higher Education Innovation Fund: White Water Writers

Supervision

Current students

Hana Butrova: Exploring character-focused mentoring as a means of facilitating character growth and Positive Youth Development (PYD) in middle and late childhood

Gemma Haywood: Self-efficacy and mindsets in children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children

Previous students

Dr Nicola Ralph: Risk and protective factors for bullying and peer victimisation of children with and without Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

Nick Garnett: Enabling teachers to promote incremental theories of intelligence in young children: an intervention and an instrument

Charlotte Bagnall: How can we improve children’s emotional wellbeing over the secondary school transition period?

Bartley, Erin Elisa
Once upon a teenage time; How do storytelling techniques within career guidance impact developing adolescents in terms of executive functions, identity formation and wellbeing?
WEN, Zhipeng
Examining the impact of “Hungry Rabbit” on reading motivation, reading comprehension, and learning anxiety of beginning Mandarin learners with basic knowledge of pinyin in the UK

Teaching

I am a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and in 2019 was a Finalist in the UK Higher Education Psychology Teacher of the Year Award.

I am the Programme Lead for MSc Psychological Studies. I also lead in the delivery of the dissertation module, and teach developmental psychology, individual differences, educational psychology, psychology of adult learning and approaches to inclusive learning.

Additional information

Awards

2019: Finalist ‘UK Higher Education Psychology Teacher of the Year’. This national level award recognises excellence in teaching and learning in psychology.

2017: Keele University. Teaching Excellence Award.

2016: Keele University. Innovative Session of the Year

2015: Keele University. Outstanding Outreach Session Deliverer

2014: Keele University. New outreach academic of the year

Photograph of Dr Skipper

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Clarity

Dr Yvonne Skipper

Biography

Research interests

Publications

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2017

2016

2015

2012

Articles

Book Sections

Research Reports or Papers

Conference or Workshop Item

Conference Proceedings

Grants

Supervision

Teaching

Additional information