Rate My Professor Michael Thomas

Professor Michael Thomas is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Birkbeck, University of London, in the School of Psychological Sciences. He earned a BSc (Hons) in Artificial Intelligence and Psychology from the University of Exeter in 1990, an MSc in Cognitive Science from the University of Birmingham in 1992, and a DPhil in Experimental Psychology from the University of Oxford in 1995. Thomas lectured at the University of Winchester from 1995 to 1998 and was a research fellow at the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health from 1998 to 2002. In 2002, he joined Birkbeck, where he established and heads the Developmental Neurocognition Laboratory since 2003 within the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development. He directed the Centre for Educational Neuroscience from 2010 to 2025 and assumed the role of Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Department for Education in January 2026.

His research investigates the construction of the human cognitive system, including genetic influences, gene-learning interactions, cultural and environmental impacts, cognitive development across ages, individual variability, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Thomas utilizes computational models to simulate these processes, integrating behavioral, neuroimaging, and genetic methods. Notable publications include Neuroconstructivism-I: How the brain constructs cognition (2007, Oxford University Press), "Using developmental trajectories to understand developmental disorders" (2009), "Annual research review: Educational neuroscience: Progress and prospects" (2019, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry), and "Language switching costs in bilingual visual word recognition" (2000, Journal of Memory and Language). The Developmental Neurocognition Laboratory was co-recipient of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher Education in 2006. Thomas holds qualifications as a Chartered Psychologist, Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He teaches modules on cognitive neuroscience, cognitive development, and computational modelling, and serves as Director of the PhD programme in Psychological Sciences.