Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Research groups

Jane Mellanby

Hon FRCP. MA (Oxon) in Physiology. DPhil in Biochemistry at University of Oxford


Emeritus Academic Visitor

  • Emeritus Fellow of St Hilda's College

In 1970, with the help and encouragement of Professor Larry Weiskrantz, I set up a Neurochemistry unit in the new Experimental Psychology building in Oxford in order to facilitate collaboration with Psychologists. My own work involved the investigation of physiological and behavioural changes in an experimental model of temporal lobe epilepsy which I had developed. In the 1990s, acting as a governor of a local comprehensive school stimulated my interest in education and I eventually moved my research area to working on factors that affect academic achievement in secondary school children and university students. 

My main research interest is in seeking reasons for underachievement in academic performance among normally developing students. I have been actively involved in the development of our verbal and spatial reasoning test for children (VESPARCH) for the last 15 years through a series of improved versions which have been piloted in several thousand children. This on-line group test does not depend on the children’s reading ability since the stimuli and instructions are presented aurally through headphones. Comparison of Vesparch scores with a child’s school performance level allows us to identify those who may be performing below their reasoning ‘potential’. We can then follow them up to investigate possible causes of underachievement. While, as would be expected, the commonest cause is poor reading ability, problems with short-term and working memory and with oral language also contribute independently. I have a particular interest in the contribution of the understanding and production of complex grammatical forms, such as the conditional, to children’s academic performance. While normally-developing children will have acquired simple grammar before entering primary school, the acquisition of complex forms requires interactive exposure which children may not have encountered. In collaboration with teachers, I am devising ways of introducing exposure to complex grammar in the classroom and of finding ways of targeting children with this specific need.         

Another area of my work is investigating reasons for the academic underperformance of female undergraduates relative to their male peers in some subjects at Oxford University. This occurs despite there being no difference between the sexes in measured intelligence and the women having performed at least as well as the men at school. 

Recent publications

More publications