Brad Kennedy | University of Chester

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Brad is one of the Graduate Teaching Assistants in the School of Psychology at the University of Chester. Brad is also a PhD student with research interests relating to social psychology and intentionality.

Brad lectures on several Research Methods and Skills (PS4005) classes and demonstrates on lab classes in Becoming a Psychological Researcher (PS5015). He also marks on various other modules and lectures on Work-Based Learning towards the end of the academic year.

I’m a first-generation University student, which means that I’m the first person in my family to attend University. I started my academic journey by heading to Bangor University in 2013 where I studied for a degree in Psychology with Neuropsychology BSc (Hons) until 2016. Then I studied for an MSc in Neuroimaging (scanning people’s Brains!), still at Bangor University until 2017. It was during my Undergraduate project and my master’s year that I became invested in conducting research in Psychology which inspired me to study further for a PhD. That led me here to Chester!

Currently, I’m an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) and a graduate member of the British Psychological Society (MBPsS). I’m also a member of the Experimental Psychology Research group within the School of Psychology.

Brad teaches and marks work across all levels at the undergraduate level. Additionally, Brad also teaches Postgraduate Research Methods as part of PS7301. You are most likely to be part of Brad’s class in your first and second year of study as he helps you to get to grips with conducting rigorous psychological research and writing up specialist reports for your assignments.

Brad is also a tutor on the Work-Based Learning modules (WBL5101/WBL5104) which run later in the academic year for Level 5. Brad has been nominated for teaching awards in the student-led ‘1839 Awards’ for five years running.

Previously, Brad has investigated the asymmetry of language dominance and its relationship with handedness. He has also investigated how language dominance is represented structurally in the brain using MRI diffusion imaging techniques to examine and visualise the white matter pathways. Brad is currently investigating social cognitive psychology and specifically is interested in the mechanisms of social intentionality. All of the current research is fully embedded within the Open Science ethos. Studies are pre-registered and data, materials and code are openly available on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/ekmyr). If you are interested in Brad’s work or if you have any questions, please do email or call.

Kennedy, B. J., Scudds, A., Lafferty, M., & Stewart, S. L. K. (2022, 30 March). Exploring the components that influence the side-effect effect (AKA the Knobe effect) [Poster presentation - Online]. Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) Meeting, Keele University. https://eps.ac.uk/previous-meetings/ (OA)

Kennedy, B. J., Scudds, A., Lafferty, M., & Stewart, S. L. K. (2022, 30 June-1 July). Exploring the side-effect effect. [Poster presentation]. University of Chester PGR Symposium 2022 https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/tvf96 (OA)

Bago, B., Kovacs, M., Protzko, J., ... Kennedy, B. J., ... & Aczel, B. (2022). Situational factors shape moral judgements in the trolley dilemma in Eastern, Southern and Western countries in a culturally diverse sample. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01319-5 (RR, OM, OD)

Stewart, S. L. K., Kennedy, B. J., & Haigh, M. (2021). Valence of agents and recipients moderates the side-effect effect: two within-subjects, multi-item conceptual replications. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 34(2), 289-306. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2021.1971234 (OM, OD)

Kennedy, B. J. (2021, March 5). UKRN Initiatives, The Open Research Calendar (Invited Speaker), UKRN Annual Meeting 2021 https://www.ukrn.org/initiatives

Gould van Praag, C.D., Kennedy, B. J. , Lautarescu, A., & Plomp, E. (2021, February 17). Poster Presentation of the Open Research Calendar, Open Science Conference 2021 (Online). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4256613 (OA)

Kennedy, B. J. (2020). Lead Editor of Issue 117 (December 2020), PsyPAG Quarterly Journal (ISSN: 1746-6016). Link to Issue (OA)

Kennedy, B. J., Scudds, A., Lafferty, M., & Stewart, S. L. K. (2020). Open Science practices in psychological research (Invited Speaker), Research Webinar - School of Psychology, University of Chester (November 25, 2020). https://osf.io/8xgn3 (OM)

Kennedy, B. J. (2020). Open Access Publishing (Invited Speaker), BPS/UKRN Webinar: The Truth About Open Research (November 13, 2020). https://osf.io/fsnyw (OM)

Gould van Praag, C.D., Kennedy, B. J. , Lautarescu, A., & Plomp, E. (2020, October 20). Open Research Calendar. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4109949 (OA, OM, OD)

Slack, H., Lloyd, A., Urquhart, J., & Kennedy, B. J. (2020). Editorial Article: Highlighting the racial inequality present within academia: PsyPAG’s response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Issue 116 (September 2020), PsyPAG Quarterly Journal (ISSN: 1746-6016). Link to Issue (OA)

Lloyd, A., Kennedy, B. J., Slack, H., & Urquhart, J. (2020). Editorial Article: Postgraduate study during Covid-19, Issue 115 (June 2020), PsyPAG Quarterly Journal (ISSN: 1746-6016). Link to Issue (OA)

Kennedy, B. J. (2019). The Side-Effect Effect. (oral presentation - Online). Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Chester (June 2, 2020).

Kennedy, B. J. (2020). Lead Editor of Issue 114 (March 2020), PsyPAG Quarterly Journal (ISSN: 1746-6016). Link to Issue (OA)

Kennedy, B. J. (2020). Data wrangling and general tips in R. (Invited Speaker). University of Chester CORA, Staff R users group, Chester UK (January 22, 2020). https://osf.io/j8npx (OA, OM)

Rumsey, S., Lunny, C., & Kennedy, B. J. (2020). Open Access: A primer from UKRN. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/94rsp (OA)

Ashcroft, S., & Kennedy, B. J. (2019). How to write a lab report. The secret recipe for success. UK: Amazon. ISBN:9781093510195

Kennedy, B. J. (2019). The RISC Project; Researching Intentions in Social Contexts. (oral presentation). Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Chester (June 25, 2019).

Kennedy, B. J. (2019). Open Science & Utilising Open Data. (Invited Speaker). Chester Data Insights, Chester UK (May 28, 2019).

Stewart, S. L. K., & Kennedy, B. J. (2019). Becoming an Open Scientist: Lessons from the Replication Crisis. (Co-presented workshop). University of Chester annual Research Festival (April 8, 2019) - https://www.chester.ac.uk/research/festival

Kennedy, B. J., Scudds, A., Lafferty, M., & Stewart, S. L. K. (2019). Knobe (2003) Replication study. (oral presentation). University of Chester PGR Symposium 2019 (February 21, 2019).

Kennedy, B. J., Scudds, A., Lafferty, M., & Stewart, S. L. K. (2018). Understanding current social opinions of job roles and sectors of work – A pilot study. PsyPag 2018 Conference, University of Huddersfield (July 25, 2018). https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6860342.v1 (OA)

Kennedy, B. J. (2018). Intention is in the eye of the beholder: Exploring the parameters of intentionality judgements utilising the side-effect effect. (oral presentation). Annual Postgraduate Conference, University of Chester (February 2018)

Kennedy, B. J., Karlsson, E., Mullins, P., & Carey, D. P. (2017). Diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) of the arcuate fasciculus and frontal aslant tract in atypical language dominance. (oral presentation). Annual Postgraduate Conference, Bangor (September 2017)

Kennedy, B. J., Karlsson, E., & Carey, D. P. (2017). Diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) of the arcuate fasciculus and frontal aslant tract in atypical language dominance. (oral presentation). British Psychological Society (BPS) Welsh Branch - Annual Student Conference (April 2017)

(PR = Preregistered, RR = Registered Report, OA = Open Access; OM = Open Materials; OD = Open Data and Analysis Code)

Brad completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology with Neuropsychology BSc (Hons) at Bangor University in 2016. He attained his MSc Neuroimaging (Distinction) in 2017, also from Bangor University. Brad is now undertaking a PhD in social intentionality at the University of Chester. His PhD research is investigating the psychological factors relating to social intentions. Brad is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA) and a graduate member of the British Psychological Society (MBPsS).