Meet The Team

Julia Harrington established BrainCanDo in 2013 at Queen Anne’s School in Berkshire where she is Headmistress. BrainCanDo began as a research programme and has evolved into a dynamic centre of research and collaborative excellence, providing consultancy, training and networking to teaching professionals.

A charitable organisation, BrainCanDo partners with top academics to commission research into educational neuroscience and psychology. BrainCanDo then translates the results into teaching best practice designed to empower adolescent students and enrich the classroom experience and their wellbeing.

The idea for BrainCanDo came from Julia’s own fascination with neuroscience and her ongoing commitment to helping students achieve their full potential, academically and emotionally.

She recognised that adolescents face unique pressures at a time of immense brain development. By cultivating a deep understanding of how the brain learns during adolescence, she believes that we can harness the amazing potential of this exceptional stage of development. Having successfully implemented several evidence-based programmes at Queen Anne’s School, Julia and the BrainCanDo team now partner with state and independent schools, universities and research centres to embed research knowledge into the education system.

Julia herself trained as a psychodynamic counsellor before teaching history and becoming a head. Queen Anne’s School won the TES Independent Schools Award for ‘outstanding post-16 innovative provision’ for its sixth-form centre, The Space, which was designed to fulfil the philosophy behind BrainCanDo. Having had the pleasure and excitement of working closely with top psychologists and educational neuroscientists, Julia celebrated BrainCanDo’s fifth birthday by embarking on a Master’s in Educational Neuroscience at the Centre for Educational Neurosciences, based at University College London and Birkbeck College, London.

Julia is a member of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) and is the HMC representative for the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL). She is also a member of the Girls’ Schools’ Association wellbeing committee and of HMC’s communications sub-committee.

Collaborative partnerships underpin the work of BrainCanDo. Julia and the team invite you to be part of our fascinating and ambitious initiative.

Prior to this, Amy completed a PhD in psychology at The University of London, Goldsmiths College, exploring the relationship between music and language cognition in children with Specific Language Impairment and retains an interest in the impact of music on child and adolescent outcomes.

Nancy project manages our research ​with our university collaborators and oversees the smooth implementation of our consultancy work in schools. She plays an active role in advising clients on project implementation supporting them to deliver on time, on budget and to a high standard. Nancy also helps to organise and deliver our INSET training and ​BrainCanDo conferences.

She has a particular interest in ​understanding the development of the teenage brain and how this impacts learning in adolescents. Recent projects she has enjoyed managing have included sleep hygiene and later school start times, developing resilience in teenagers and fostering gratitude within a school community. Nancy likes to work closely with schools to identify what they need and then design a bespoke project to answer a particular question, support a school embed it’s values or collate empirical data from staff or students on any specific measure such as wellbeing. Nancy offers a flexible and committed approach and enjoys working with a wide variety of schools, with both staff and pupils, supporting them in managing their own research.

Prior to working at BrainCanDo, Nancy worked in both the public and private sector as a consultant psychologist. She has extensive experience undertaking and managing ​projects, within and behalf of a number of ​world class organisations including Johnson and Johnson, The Post Office, The Employment Service, The Bank of England and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Prior to working on her PhD, Catherine taught Physical Education at Queen Anne’s School and worked as a Mental Health Counselling intern in New York, while completing her MSc in Clinical Mental Health Counselling.

She has also competed at a high level in sports, playing NCAA Division I basketball in the United States and competing in the highest professional basketball league in England.