Dr. Sophia Wei Deng is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies in the Academy of Future Education at XJTLU. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in psychology from The Ohio State University and B.S. in psychology from Zhejiang University. Dr. Deng’s research program has aimed to advance the understanding of how and why human cognition changes over the course of development and learning and to apply developmental and learning mechanisms to educational settings. Specifically, her research is focused on the development of attention, categorization, learning, and conceptual changes, and she uses a variety of behavioral, eye-tracking, neuroscience, and modeling methods to study infants, children, and adults. Her research has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Multi-year Research Grants of University of Macau. She has served on the editorial boards of Journal of Experimental Psychology: General and Frontiers in Psychology. With over 12 years of teaching experience in higher education, Dr. Deng is a dedicated educator with extensive experience in innovative teaching and curriculum development in the English-medium-instruction (EMI) context. She regularly works with scholars across disciplines, including cognitive science, psychology, education, linguistics, and philosophy, as well as teachers and policymakers, to advance child development and promote children’s well-being.

邓玮博士是西交利物浦大学未来教育学院教育研究系副教授，博士生导师。她博士和硕士毕业于美国俄亥俄州立大学心理系发展心理学方向，本科毕业于浙江大学心理与行为科学系。加入西交利物浦之前，邓玮博士在澳门大学心理系任助理教授、博士生导师，曾是澳门大学认知与脑科学研究中心的主要研究员，并创立和负责注意、脑与认知发展实验室。邓玮博士的研究旨在探索人类认知发展和学习的规律，并将发展和学习机制应用于教育实践。她擅长使用行为实验、眼动追踪、认知神经科学和计算建模等多种跨学科方法来研究婴儿、儿童和成人的注意力和分类学习。她的研究得到了国家自然科学基金和澳门大学多年研究基金的支持。她目前担任心理学期刊Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 和 Frontiers in Psychology 的编委。邓玮博士在高等教育领域有超过十二年的科研和教学经验，她与认知科学、心理学、教育学、语言学和哲学等不同领域的学者保持密切合作，助力儿童发展，促进儿童心理健康。

Child Development

Cognitive Development

Attention Development

Categorization and Conceptual Development

Multisensory Learning, Language and Reasoning

Associate Professor, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, 2024.7-present

PI, Attention Brain and Cognitive Development Lab (ABCD Lab), 2016.8-present

Assistant Professor, University of Macau, 2016.8-2024.6

Postdoctoral Researcher, The Ohio State University, 2015.9-2016.6

EDS 453 Achievement, Motivation, and Support (Module Leader)

EDS 428 Teaching, Learning, and Assessment (Module Leader)

Courses taught at University of Macau (2016-2024) and The Ohio State University (2011-2015): Introduction to Psychology, General Psychology, Psychology of Everyday Life, Lifespan Developmental Psychology, Cognitive Development, Seminar in Selected Topics in Psychology, Honors Thesis

Teaching Highlights

Learn From Children, Learn Like Children: Dr. Deng's teaching philosophy and pedagogies were featured by the Center for Teaching and Learning Enhancement of University of Macau. An interview on how her teaching has been inspired by her research on child development and learning was conducted by the University.

“Part of me is teaching English”: Dr. Deng's teaching as an English-medium instruction (EMI) teacher has been systematically studied by a doctoral student in Education at University of Macau. A paper on her teaching case study has been published. Liu, S., & Yuan, R. (2023). “Part of me is teaching English”: probing the language-related teaching practices of an English-medium-instruction (EMI) teacher. Applied Linguistics Review.

Outstanding Academic Staff of the Incentive Scheme, University of Macau, 2022

Nomination for the Teaching Excellence Award, University of Macau, 2020, 2019

Recognition for The Highest Teaching Evaluation for General Education Courses, University of Macau, 2018

Graduate Research Assistant Excellence Award, The Ohio State University, 2015

Herbert Toops Research Award for the most outstanding and creative research article published by graduate student, The Ohio State University, 2013

Meritorious Teaching Award, The Ohio State University, 2012

William James Award for the most outstanding poster at CogFest, 2011

Psychology Departmental Fellowship, The Ohio State University, 2009-2014

Undergraduate Thesis Award, Zhejiang University, 2009

Undergraduate Excellence Award, Zhejiang University, 2009