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Margherita Malanchini

@marghmalanchini.bsky.social
612 followers 328 following 29 posts

Developmental psychologist at QMUL. Director of the Cognition, Development and Education research lab (codelab.science). Mum of 2. She/her

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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
What explains why children differ in learning? This is one of the key questions that my CoDE Lab aims to address. The answer is, as always, complex, but we can start putting together some of the pieces of this puzzle. Check out this new episode of Bacon's Sandwich. www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0xr...
youtube.com
What will your kid's be good at in school and why? New research has surprising answers.
YouTube video by Bacon's Sandwich
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ESSGN @essgn.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This week on Born and Raised, @marghmalanchini.bsky.social talks about, among other things, what non-cognitive skills actually contain!
essgn.podbean.com
Does Curiosity Beat Intelligence? Margherita Malanchini | Born and Raised
What makes someone good at learning? Intelligence certainly helps. But as we grow up, curiosity, motivation, confidence, and interest seem to matter more and more. So does curiosity eventually beat in...
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Rafael Ahlskog @rafaelahlskog.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Me and @aysuo.bsky.social met up with @marghmalanchini.bsky.social in Bologna because were curious about curiosity. Don't miss!
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CoDE Lab Science @codelabresearch.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
@marghmalanchini.bsky.social from QMUL discusses the stability and malleability of cognitive test scores in childhood and reviews to what extent scientific evidence supports using a single test taken in primary school to inform fundamental educational decisions. theconversation.com/the-truth-ab...
theconversation.com
The truth about child IQ: research shows it fluctuates and may be an unreliable predictor of future success
Research has shown that children who are emotionally stable, motivated and capable of controlling their impulses do better at school.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
In this article for @theconversation.com, I review the scientific evidence on the stability and malleability of cognitive performance in childhood. Can we use a single test taken in primary school to inform fundamental educational decisions? theconversation.com/the-truth-ab...
theconversation.com
The truth about child IQ: research shows it fluctuates and may be an unreliable predictor of future success
Research has shown that children who are emotionally stable, motivated and capable of controlling their impulses do better at school.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Thank you, Zhe! ❤️
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
It was a great honour to receive the 2025 Faculty of Science and Engineering Research Excellence Award. I feel lucky to be able to share this achievement with all the members of CoDE Lab and many fantastic collaborators and colleagues. ✨
codelab.science
Home | CoDE-Research-Lab
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Centre for Brain and Behaviour, QMUL @queenmarycbb.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Congratulations are in order for the fantastic staff at the Department who received the Research Excellence Award @marghmalanchini.bsky.social, the Research Initiative Awards (Paraskevi Argyriou), and @nadinelavan.bsky.social & Guifen Chen for their work in the EDI committee 🎉👏@qmulsbbs.bsky.social
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Arno Van Hootegem 🌱 @arnovanhootegem.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
How much of the intergenerational transmission of SES is due to social factors? To answer this, shared 🧬 between parents and children need to be considered. In our new study, we use two designs to account for genetic confounding. We find that roughly 20 percent is due to social factors!
academic.oup.com
Social origins and socioeconomic outcomes: a combined twin and adoption study
Abstract. Parents and children tend to have similar socioeconomic status (SES). Sociological theory has often emphasized the role of social mechanisms in i
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
This work builds on our previous study, currently under review: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... A special thank you to our wonderful co-authors! Engin Keser, @andrealle.bsky.social, @kailirimfeld.bsky.social, Robert Plomin
medrxiv.org
Isolating transdiagnostic effects reveals specific genetic profiles in psychiatric disorders
Evidence indicates a great degree of genetic overlap between psychiatric diagnoses. Accounting for these transdiagnostic effects can sharpen research on disorder-specific genetic architecture. Here we...
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Research and interventions focused solely on transdiagnostic risk are unlikely to capture the full complexity of these relationships or to enhance our understanding of the distinct cognitive profiles associated with different psychiatric conditions.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Contrary to what has been observed for the development of psychiatric symptoms, which are best predicted by transdiagnostic effects, the association between psychopathology and general cognitive ability is driven by disorder-specific genetic factors rather than transdiagnostic influences.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
4️⃣ Within-sibling analyses indicated that genetic associations operated through distinct pathways: for some disorders (e.g., ADHD), effects were largely shared between siblings, while for others (e.g., ASD), they were specific to each individual within a family.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
2️⃣ While for some psychiatric disorders (e.g., ADHD, Tourette’s) associations with cognitive skills were negative, for others (e.g., autism spectrum disorder, anorexia nervosa) they were positive. 3️⃣ Associations increased across development and varied for different cognitive skills.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
The results showed that: 1️⃣ The relationship between psychopathology and cognitive functioning is primarily driven by disorder-specific genetic effects, rather than by transdiagnostic factors.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
4. We used Genomic SEM and calculated polygenic scores to test whether genetic risk for different psychiatric disorders, before and after we removed transdiagnostic effects, was associated with specific cognitive profiles over development, from early childhood to early adulthood.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
3. One way of overcoming these challenges is to consider genetic risk. Genetic studies provide a powerful tool for uncovering and isolating shared (transdiagnostic) and unique processes to each disorder.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
2. Because cognitive profiles often transcend diagnostic boundaries, it has been challenging to delineate specific relationships between psychiatric disorders and cognitive functioning. A further challenge is the heterogeneity in the age of onset and diagnosis of different psychiatric conditions.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
1. Despite a well-established relationship between cognition and mental health, cognitive functioning remains an under-investigated dimension of psychopathology.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
🧠🧬🧑‍🤝‍🧑 New CoDE Lab study: Disorder-specific genetic effects drive the associations between psychopathology and cognitive functioning. Link to preprint: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... Led by the brilliant Wangjingyi Liao 🌟 A short thread summarising the study👇
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Dr Giorgia Michelini @giorgiamichelini.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
*New preprint* on ND and co-occurring mental health problems from my lab, led by Chiara Caserini! Using longitudinal data from ABCD we asked: What drives poor mental health outcomes in children with high ND traits? Here's brief summary 🧠🌳🏡 www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1.... 1/n
medrxiv.org
Developmental pathways from childhood neurodevelopmental traits to early adolescent psychiatric dimensions: the role of environmental and lifestyle factors
Objectives: Transdiagnostic dimensional approaches have advanced our understanding of psychiatric comorbidity and developmental continuity, but have rarely been applied to investigate links between ne...
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Andrea Ganna @andganna.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Why do children with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) often have parents with autoimmune diseases? Our new study shows parental autoimmune conditions affect offspring’s T1D risk through complex genetic factors, including both HLA and non-HLA variants. 🔗 www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
cell.com
Effects of parental autoimmune diseases on type 1 diabetes in offspring can be partially explained by HLA and non-HLA polymorphisms
Leveraging Finnish nationwide multi-generational registers and the biobanks of FinnGen, Wang, Liu, et al. investigated the effect of parental autoimmune diseases on offspring T1D. Their creative and r...
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Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 24/04/2025
New post by me: The decline in cancer mortality is about much more than smoking. We shouldn't minimize the very real impact of many contributors — including improvements in diagnosis, medical and surgical innovation, vaccination against cancers, and more — to the reduction in cancer death rates.
scientificdiscovery.dev
The decline in cancer mortality is about much more than smoking
I respond to the claim that the decline in cancer mortality is mostly, or almost entirely, because of the decline in smoking.
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Jasmin Wertz @jasminwer.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
I am recruiting a PhD student to join my lab this autumn, to study how vulnerable young people navigate the transition to adulthood: www.sgsss.ac.uk/studentship/... Jointly supervised with Skills Development Scotland, so lots of scope to translate findings into impact and policy!
sgsss.ac.uk
Vulnerable young people’s experiences during the transition to adulthood: A longitudinal investigation in a Scottish birth cohort. - Scottish Graduate School of Social Science
The transition to adulthood is a significant developmental period, not only for young people and their families, but also for policymaking. This is due to the importance of young people’s post-school ...
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
9/9. In line with transactional models of human development, rooted in evocative/active gene-environment correlation, children seek out environmental experiences that align with their genetic dispositions, partly based on their non-cognitive characteristics, leading to different learning outcomes.🧬🌳
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
8/9. Children’s unique genetic dispositions were associated with academic achievement partly through their distinct non-cognitive profiles beyond those genetic, environmental and demographic factors that are common to family members.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
7/9. Mediation effects could also be observed when examining differences between siblings. Examining differences between siblings we were able to separate the effects of family-wide processes from those unique to each child within a family.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
6/9. 🔷 Time-lagged analyses showed that the mediating role of non-cognitive skills persisted across development, underscoring the importance of fostering non-cognitive skills to enhance students’ long-term academic outcomes.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
5/9/ 🔷 non-cognitive skills, particularly those characteristics closely linked to learning (e.g., academic interest, curiosity, and academic self-perceived ability), play a critical role in translating education-associated genetic dispositions into observed academic achievement.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
4/9. Leveraging longitudinal data from >5,000 twins enrolled in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) we found that non-cognitive skills play a key role in translating genetic propensity into differences between students in academic achievement. Specifically, we found that:
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
3/9. This study examines the role of non-cognitive skills—e.g., motivation, attitudes, and self-regulation—in mediating education-associated genetic effects on academic achievement across development.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
2/9. Genetic effects on academic achievement likely capture environmental, developmental, and psychological processes. How these processes contribute to translating genetic dispositions into observed academic achievement remains critically under-investigated.
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
🧬🌳 New CoDE lab preprint: From genetic disposition to academic achievement: The mediating role of non-cognitive skills across development. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... On 🦋: @andrealle.bsky.social @kailirimfeld.bsky.social @laraffington.bsky.social A short thread 👇 (1/9)
biorxiv.org
From genetic disposition to academic achievement: The mediating role of non-cognitive skills across development
Genetic effects on academic achievement are likely to capture environmental, developmental, and psychological processes. How these processes contribute to translating genetic dispositions into observe...
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Saloni Krishnan @salonikrishnan.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
I'm looking for someone with neuroimaging experience to join my lab for a year - please do repost! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
New CoDE Lab preprint. We investigated whether spatial ability consistently predicts STEM success beyond other cognitive skills and what aspects of spatial ability predict success in STEM more accurately. Link: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Michelle Luciano @drmluciano.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
A permanent job lecturing stats in Psychology at University of Edinburgh (we're a lovely bunch!): elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid... @schoolofppls.bsky.social
elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com
Lecturer
The School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences is seeking to appoint one full time, open-ended, teaching-focused Lecturer to its Department of Psychology.
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Centre for Brain and Behaviour, QMUL @queenmarycbb.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Many congratulations to Nadine Lavan (from CBB) and Paraskevi Argyriou for receiving the Research & Innovation and the Student Experience & Education Excellence Awards respectively, from the Faculty of Science and Engineering last night! Well done both🎉
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Paul Hufe @paulhufe.net · 28/11/2024
🔊Next conference of the European Social Science Genetics Network (ESSGN) in Bristol, 22-23 May. ✅Keynote by @michellemeyer.bsky.social ✅Panel on the current frontier of MR w/ George Davey-Smith (Bristol), Dalton Conley (Princeton), and Alice Carter (Novo-Nordisk). essgn.org/essgn-confer...
essgn.org
ESSGN Conference IV
Bristol, May 22-23, 2025 CALL FOR PAPERS We are pleased to announce the 4th conference of the European Social Science Genetics Network. This conference aims to improve our understanding of how gene…
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Thank you, Michel! I am excited to join this excellent group!
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Jessica Agnew-Blais @agnewblais.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
Interested in ADHD and ageing? PhD opportunity with my lab at QMUL investigating ADHD in late life using genetic and longitudinal approaches. Co-supervised by @marghmalanchini.bsky.social . Funded by Chinese Scholarship Council (Chinese citizens eligible for funding) www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
findaphd.com
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and functioning in older age at Queen Mary University of London on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and functioning in older age at Queen Mary University of London, listed on FindAPhD.com
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Michel Nivard @michelnivard.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
@ent3c.bsky.social suggested we need a behaviour genetics starter pack, let me know who to add!
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Margherita Malanchini @marghmalanchini.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
🚨New PhD opportunity funded by the Chinese Scholarship Council: Join my lab to investigate the co-occurrence of neurodevelopmental and disruptive behaviour conditions. www.qmul.ac.uk/sbbs/postgra...
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Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 17/02/2024
"On one occasion, a handful of children, all about ages 5 to 8, were carried to the emergency room by their parents. All had single sniper shots to the head." www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
latimes.com
Opinion: I'm an American doctor who went to Gaza. What I saw wasn't war — it was annihilation
As a surgeon, I volunteered at a Gaza hospital. The conditions were unthinkable. With a ground offensive in Rafah, people have nowhere to go.
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Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 07/02/2024
Interested in working with linked census and survey data for England and Wales? Check out this workshop on the linked Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2011 Census dataset. www.ncrm.ac.uk/training/sho...
ncrm.ac.uk
Training course: An introduction to the linked ASHE-2011 Census dataset - F2F
As part of the Wage and Employment Dynamics project, funded by ADR UK, data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) has been linked to data from the 2011 Census for England and Wales. Thi
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Leonard Frach @leofrach.bsky.social · 16/01/2024
Our paper on genetic transmission and genetic nurture effects on conduct problems is now published in Molecular Psychiatry! This version includes new analyses www.nature.com/articles/s41... a 🧵 1/6
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Dorothy Bishop @deevybee.bsky.social · 18/01/2024
seems that those cynics who grumble about employers who offer wellness programs have a point www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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Michel Nivard @michelnivard.bsky.social · 15/01/2024
We ( @torkildl.bsky.social and @eivindy.bsky.social @tibaier.bsky.social & @kph3k.bsky.social also others not on here) have a paper out studying the origins of widely observed gene-environment correlation for educational outcomes. Paper: rdcu.be/dv1sp let me walk you trough it in a thread 1/?
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Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 13/01/2024
We’ve forgotten how terrible Africa’s HIV epidemic was & how important PEPFAR has been. 20 million people today depend on continued treatment from it, and its fate may be the most important issue facing global health this year. My piece in Vox today – please share! www.vox.com/future-perfe...
vox.com
How political gridlock could kill the best global health program the US ever passed
PEPFAR saved millions of people from AIDS. Don’t let it die.
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