Louise Gray

Biography

Louise is a PRINCE2 Project Practitioner, overseeing a programme of academic events at the Centre. This includes the CAFR Seminar Series, the Annual CAFR Conference, the Child Development Forum (CDF) and our annual contribution Cambridge Festival events for the CAFR and Department of Psychology. Louise also manages the website and leads a working group looking to expand our social media presence.

Previous professional experience includes Event Management and Staffing for large, complex music and sports events, Programme Coordination for a professional football club, and Operations Manager for a Cambridge-based charity.

Louise completed her BSc (Brunel University London) and MSc (Birkbeck) in Psychology, while raising her young son. During Louise's undergraduate degree she undertook a year in industry as a Senior Lab Technician and Research Assistant, overseeing data collection and management, and supervising undergraduate dissertation students in using the lab equipment. During her MSc, she planned and delivered various fundraising events for a local primary school alongside her studies.

Outside of work, Louise is an advisory group member for a London-based charity, and enjoys reading about social, political and science history. She sings in an amateur choir and is a keen (but very slow) runner!

Publications:

Alter, O. P. M., Rodriguez Canosa, C., Gray, L., & Hughes, C. (2026). UK Mothers’ Perspectives on Their Children’s Transition to the First Year of School During COVID-19. Parenting, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2025.2610746

Heng, J. A., Wang, Z., Xu, C., Agtchin, A., Chen, L. L., Dempsey, C., Devine, R. T., D'Souza, H., Edwards, M., Fink, E., Gray, L., Jess, M., Mehrotra, M., Wong, S. C., Wu, C., Wu, Z., Zheng, J., & Hughes, C. (2025). Mind-mindedness, parenting, and family adversity: Associations and moderation effects across three sites. Journal of Family Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001432

Devine, R. T., Gray, L., Edwards, M., Jess, M., Dempsey, C., Heng, J., Mehrotra, M., D'Souza, H., Fink, E., & Hughes, C. (2025). Changes in children’s well-being and mental health across the early school years: Links with academic and social competence. Developmental Psychology, 61(8), 1464–1478. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001962

Chen, L. L., Heng, J. A., Xu, C., Ellefson, M.R., Edwards, M., D'Souza, H., Fink, E., Jess, M., Gray, L., Dempsey, C., Mehrotra, M., Wong, S.C., Wu, C., Huang, B., Zheng, J., Wu, Z., Devine, R.T., Hughes, C. (2025) Links Between Child Executive Function and Adjustment: A Three-Site Study. Child Development, Volume 96, Issue 5, September/October 2025, Pages 1590–1604, https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14264

Other key contributions:

Senior Lab Technician & Research Assistant - Brown, W.M., Price, M.E., Kang, J., Pound, N., Zhao, Y., & Yu, H. (2008) Fluctuating asymmetry and preferences for sex-typical bodily characteristics. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (PNAS) 105 (35) 12938-12943, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0710420105