Dr Nia Williams is a lecturer and researcher at the Collaborative Institute for Education Research, Evidence and Impact (CIEREI), School of Education and Human Development, Bangor University. After the completion of her PhD which investigated how children’s Welsh television programmes can support Welsh acquisition among L2 English children in schools and at home,  Dr Williams began to expand her research interests to explore various aspects of child development. She worked collaboratively with practitioners in various settings on a range of projects relating to child psychology, child development, children's education, language development and bilingualism. Such projects include working with GL Assessment evaluating the Baseline Assessment Tool; the new standardised online software designed to measure mathematical, language and communication skills as well as phonological awareness in 4-5 year old children. She was the lead researcher for the Premier League Reading Stars Cymru reading programme and for The Family Learning Signature, a family-based programme helping education authorities to improve attainment, attendance and behaviour, particularly with hard to reach families and disengaged learners. In addition, she has been involved in investigating Welsh-English educational provision in North Wales, exploring the implications for language policies and researching various language development programmes provided by Welsh councils supporting 3-16 year olds. She worked with Public Health Wales promoting parent-child interaction in the first 1000 days. She is also a named collaborator for the National Centre for Population, Health and Wellbeing Research. Nia was one of the lead psychologist in the award winning “Hen Blant Bach” and “The Toddlers Who Took on Dementia” intergenerational research projects and television programmes for Darlun TV, S4C, Sony Pictures and BBC Wales. These projects gained international recognition and won Best Documentary at the Celtic Media Film Festival and won the silver medal at the New York TV & Film Awards. She continues to make regular contributions to TV and radio programmes as an expert informant.

Today, her main interest lies in child forensic psychology and psychopathy. What makes a serial killer? What drives children to kill? What’s the psychology behind torturing children? These are just some topics that she discusses in her lectures. As you can see, Nia thoroughly enjoys the dark side of psychology!

Dr Nia Williams

107 Trefenai

Normal Site

Bangor University

E-mail: nia.williams@bangor.ac.uk

Phone: (01248) 383026

Nia has a range of interest relating to child development with child forensic psychology and psychopathy at the forefront. She has a particular interest in what causes children to develop criminal behaviour, what factors are associated within a child’s life that leads them to commit terrible crimes in the future or even, what are the implications of having a parent behind bars on children’s development?  Alongside these, she is passionate about children’s mental health and wellbeing and is interested in various projects that help support or prevent children from developing mental health problems.      

Nia is a lecturer at the School of Education and Human Development. Over the years Nia has contributed to several undergraduate and postgraduate modules on various courses. She has written several new modules that have proved popular with students such as ‘Mental Health in Children and Adolescents’ and ‘Forensic psychology’ and ensures the provision for both Welsh and English speakers. Nia is passionate about students experience and development especially in terms of presentation skills and is currently preparing the BOPS module that will be offered to students on the course for the first time this year. Additionally, she’s actively involved in the supervision of research students as well as pastoral care work.

Roles and Responsibilities

Head of Year Two: Childhood and Youth Studies Course responsible for the 2^nd year’ students studying on the course.

Deputy Chair School of Education Ethics Committee

Member of the COHABS and School of Education Marketing committees

School of Education Website Editor: Responsible for updating the website

School of Education and Human Development International Exchange Officer: Responsible for students and staff who participate in exchange programmes to study abroad.

External reviewer for Health and Care Research Wales Health Research Fellowship Awards.

Modules

Year 1: BOPS (Bangor Oral Presentation Skills)

Year 2: Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents

Year 2: Seicopatholeg Ymhlith Plant a’r Ifanc

Year 3: Psychology of Childhood and Crime 

Year 3: Seicoleg Plentyndod a Throseddu

Year 2 & 3 Dissertation Supervisor

Research Supervision

Supervision of Postgraduate EdD & PhD projects in Education at Bangor University.

Supervision of Postgraduate MRes Dissertations in Education at Bangor University.

Supervision of Postgraduate MA Dissertations in Education at Bangor University.

Supervision of Undergraduate BA Dissertations in Childhood & Young Studies at Bangor University.