The Developmental Psychology program at the University of Waterloo is a research-focused program, offering both MASc and PhD degrees. Faculty and students associated with the program are currently conducting research with infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children. Major topics of study include language development, conceptual development, and social-cognitive development. In addition, the department houses a preschool, the Early Childhood Education Centre, which allows for naturalistic observation and empirical testing of children aged 2½ to 5 years.

Core Faculty of the Developmental Program

Ori Friedman, Associate Professor
BSc, Toronto; PhD, Boston College
Research interests: Children’s and adult’s reasoning about ownership; pretend play; theory of mind.
Lab: UW Child Cognition Lab

Mathieu Le Corre, Assistant Professor
BSc, McGill; PhD, NYU
Research interests: The acquisition of number knowledge in early childhood.
Lab: Developmental Science Lab

Daniela O’Neill, Professor
BSc, Toronto; PhD, Stanford
Research interests: Early language development, with a focus on pragmatics, narrative and assessment (the Language Use Inventory, LUI).
Lab: UW Centre for Child Studies  

Katherine White, Assistant Professor
BA, Cornell, PhD, Brown
Research interests: Early language development, with a focus on infant speech perception and word acquisition.
Lab: Lab for Infant Development and Language

Other Faculty with Developmental Interests:

Roxane Itier (Cognitive Neuroscience).
Lab: Face Processing and Social Cognition Lab

Tara McAuley (Clinical).
Lab: Child and Adolescent Neuropsychology Lab

Elizabeth Nilsen (Clinical).
Lab: Cognitive Development Lab