Rea Michalopoulou

Thesis title: Children's understanding of COVID-19 and VR interventions

Biography

Background

I started my academic journey at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh) in Greece where in 2019 I completed a First-Class Honours Bachelor of Education (BEd Hons) in Early Childhood Education and Teaching. During my bachelor's studies, I immersed myself in the psychology world which then led me to move to Edinburgh. In 2020, I joined the School of Health in Social Science and completed the MSc in Psychology of Mental Health (Conversion) with distinction. For my master's dissertation, I explored young people's understanding of COVID-19. This project sparked my interest in illness perceptions and played a pivotal role in the design of my PhD project.

Qualifications

MSc (Distinction) in Psychology of Mental Health (Conversion), University of Edinburgh, UK

BEd (1st Class-Hons) in Early Childhood Education and Teaching, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Responsibilities & affiliations

British Psychological Society - Graduate membership (GMBPsS) (2021-present)

Onassis Foundation Scholar (2022-present)

Children, Adolescents and Animals Research Group (caar) - Member (2022-present)

Pioneering Analytics for Transformative Higher Education (PATH) Research Cluster - Researcher (2022-present)

Research Bow Blog - Co-Editor in Chief (2023-present)

School of Health in Social Science - PhD in Clinical Psychology Programme Representative (2023-2024)

Edinburgh Futures Institute - PhD Affiliate (2024-present)

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Research (CAMHR) Centre - Member (2024-present)

Undergraduate teaching

Medical School

  • Social and Ethical Aspects of Medicine (SEAM): Unit 1: Understanding Experiences of Illness

  • Social and Ethical Aspects of Medicine (SEAM): Unit 3: Health in Communities

 

Invited guest lecture at the IST College in Greece for the Advanced Research Methods course (Year 2, BSc in Psychology)

Postgraduate teaching

School of Health in Social Science

  • Typical and Atypical Child Development (CLPS11080)
  • Developmental Psychology and Developmental Psychopathology (CLPS11054)
  • Attachment, Wellbeing and Mental Health (CLPS11079)
  • Biological Psychology (CLPS11083)
  • Parenting: Theory & Practice (CLPS11042)

  • Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Disorders (CLPS11052)

 

Current PhD students supervised

Freya Murray (MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches - School of Health in Social Science)

Shuran Zhang (MSc Mental Health in Children and Young People: Psychological Approaches - School of Health in Social Science)

 

 

Past PhD students supervised

Chuxiong Wu (MSc Artificial Intelligence - School of Informatics)

Research summary

My research interests lie (1) in the way children understand infectious diseases, (2) in children's familiarity with VR technologies; and 3) in creating age-appropriate psycho-education interventions.

Current research interests

illness perceptions; mental health; virtual reality; children; adolescents; clinical psychology; developmental psychology; health psychology

Affiliated research centres

Project activity

I explore children’s understanding of COVID-19 and the effectiveness of co-designed VR interventions to improve this understanding (PhD project)

Current project grants

* The Onassis Foundation Scholarship (£41,900; 2022-2026) - Awarded for the duration of my PhD
* The FfWG Foundation Grant (£3,000; Oct 2025-Aug 2026) - Awarded for the final year of my PhD

Past project grants

* CDCS Digital Research Fund (£1,200; May 2024) - Issued by Edinburgh Centre for Data, Culture & Society, University of Edinburgh (internal) - I was awarded the fund in support of the development of a VR application that will be directly utilised in my PhD's final project.
* EFI projects and events grant (£1,000; Apr 2024) - Issued by Edinburgh Futures Institute, University of Edinburgh (internal) - I was awarded the grant towards the development of a VR application that will be directly utilised in my PhD's final project.
* Student Community Fund - (£200; Apr 2024) - Issued by School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh (internal) - Was awarded the Student Community Fund 2023/24 from the School of Health in Social Science to organise and run a programming workshop for the PGRs, as part of the Research Bow Editorial Team.
* Student Partnership Agreement Small Project funding - (£990; Nov 2023) - Issued by Institute for Academic Development, University of Edinburgh (internal) - As the programme representative of the PhD in clinical and health psychology, I co-applied and secured the fund to run a community-building initiative in the School of Health in Social Science.

Conference details

Bovill, C., Caquineau, C., Glen, I., McQueen, H., Michalopoulou, R. E., Paterson, C., Rowa-Dewar, N., Tu, H. (2025). Co-Create a Manifesto for Co-Creation. UOE Learning and Teaching Conference 2025: Transformative Assessment and Feedback. -Poster Presentation 

Michalopoulou, R. E., Williams, J. M., Bach, B., Kourtesis, P. (2025). Co-designing of a Virtual Reality Serious Game for COVID-19 with Primary School Children. HiSS PGR Conference 2025: Mind the Gaps: Forging New Directions in Social Research. -Oral Presentation of PhD study

Michalopoulou, R. E., Williams, J. M., Bach, B., Kourtesis, P. (2023). Children, COVID-19 & Virtual Reality. HiSS PGR Conference 2023: Integrative approaches to Healthcare. -Poster Presentation of PhD's research plan

Hoelterhoff, M., Johnston, S., Ajeet Gokani, H., Michalopoulou, R. E., Leyland, E. L. (2022). Personal Values in Postgraduate University Student Engagement: A Creative Participatory Action Research Project. 2022 Porto 31st International Conference On “Literature, Social Sciences and Education” (PLSSE-22). - Oral Presentation - Awarded "Best Session Paper"

Michalopoulou, R. E., Williams, J. M., Ding, R. (2021). Young People's Understanding of COVID-19. BPS Scottish Branch 2021 Postgraduate Research Day. - Oral Presentation of master’s dissertation

Organiser

One-Day SHiSS PGR Research Festival 2024 (29th of May 2024)

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