Kathrin Paal

Academic profile

Ms Kathrin Paal

Research Assistant
Plymouth Institute of Education (Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business)

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The Global Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Kathrin's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

Goal 04: SDG 4 - Quality EducationGoal 12: SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and ProductionGoal 13: SDG 13 - Climate ActionGoal 15: SDG 15 - Life on LandGoal 16: SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong InstitutionsGoal 17: SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

About Kathrin

Research interests:

My main research interest is preschoolers' feelings and actions towards nature. As a keen gardener and environmentalist, I am interested in how children can be supported in learning about nature and how to care for it. I also have a vested interest to find ways to make research more authentic and meaningful to children and support children enacting agency within the research and beyond. 

Research experience:

Current projects
“River of Hope: a child-led enquiry into place identity, inclusion and climate change through arts-based learning” (08/2023 – present) (role: principal investigator)

  • child-led evaluation of the Thames Festival Trust’s “River of Hope” project, an international, arts-based initiative that connects children with their local river to provoke discussion around place and identity, inclusion and climate change
  • funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation (granted to Thames Festival Trust)

Early Years Research and Innovation Hub (02/2023 - present) (role: research assistant) 

  • aims to extend the reach of research findings on the quality of early childhood education and care, utilising them to inform pedagogical practice, evidence the impact on the professional knowledge and confidence of educators and subsequent child outcomes and support educators in forming research informed curriculums and pedagogy

University Practice Partnerships: Sustaining collaboration across learning environments (UPPScale) (01/2021 - present) (role: research assistant)

Previous projects

UPPScale Erasmus+ (01/2021 - 08/2023) (role: research assistant)

  • aimed to create an innovative, non-hierarchical space for sustainable, collaborative transnational working that responds to the needs and interests of educators and staff in early years settings, schools and universities (uppscaleeu.wordpress.com) 
  • funded by Erasmus+

Devon Wildlife Trust program evaluation (01/2022 - 07/2023) (role: principal investigator)

  • Evaluation of DWT's school outreach such as the “Wildlife Champions” sessions. I carried out an Appreciative Inquiry that seeked to identify good practice, design effective development plans, and ensure implementation of the programme. The research helped to understand the successful implementation in schools to inform steps taken to better support other schools within the MAT and beyond, including factors that were determining for the school to choose this programme, children and teachers' views and most positive experiences they had with the sessions of the programme as well as children and teachers’ nature relatedness. 
  • funded by Devon Wildlife Trust

“Chest Health Through the Lens of a Child with Neurodisability” project (05/2022 - 03/2023) (role: research assistant) 

  • aimed to explore child-focused perceptions of exercise-based chest health interventions (more information)
  • principal investigators: Katherine Gulliver / Rachel Knight Lozano 
  • funded by Explore Awards and Arts – Health Collaboration Fund

Moor To Sea project evaluation (03/2022 - 06/2022) (role: research assistant and research mentor)

  • Within this project, we carried out an evaluation of the Constructor project that works with pre-, non- and post-verbal young people with learning disabilities. We have adopted elements of an Appreciative Inquiry approach: we have sought to identify what ‘gives life’ to the collective through collaborative exploration of themes and noticing and sharing telling moments (more information).

Evaluation of the "Rebuilding Bridges" project (06/2021 - 01/2022) (role: principal investigator)

  • an intergenerational music intervention that aimed to (re-)connect young children and elderly at care homes in the Torbay area (more information)
  • funded by Arts Council England National Lottery Fund, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Torbay Music Hub and Torbay Early Years Advisory Team

Pigshill Woods project (04/2021 - 07/2021) (role: research assistant) 

  • The project aimed to build on the anecdotal evidence that has accrued during the national lockdown about the beneficial effects of the woodland. The findings provide detailed accounts of benefits for a wide range of woodland users/volunteers who have diverse needs and different backgrounds. (more information)

Evaluation of the German national programme "Sprach-Kitas: Weil Sprache der Schlüssel zur Welt ist" (10/2018 - 02/2019) (role: research assistant)

  • The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in Germany has been promoting language education as part of quality development in child day care since 2016. The federal programme was primarily aimed at day-care centres attended by an above-average proportion of children with language needs. 
  • The evaluation examined the implementation and impact of the programme at the levels of counselling, institutions, professionals and families. It was an empirical, longitudinal study with quantitative and qualitative elements. 
  • principal investigator: Professor Yvonne Anders, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany 
  • funded by Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Germany and Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

"Posture and Locomotion" (10/2016 - 06/2018) (role: research assistant) 

  • The project explored the action understanding and movement planning of 11–16-month-old-infants while crawling or walking down slopes and steps up to 90cm
  • principal investigator: Whitney G. Cole, PhD, New York University, USA, and Professor Ulman Lindenberger, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
  • funded by Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

"Adaption to major life events" (07/2015 - 10/2015 and 02/2016 - 03/2016) (role: research assistant)

  • The research project intended to investigate the significance of critical life events for longer-term development. The focus is on the idea that short-term stress regulation processes in everyday life contribute significantly to whether a confrontation with a life event has long-term positive or negative consequences. 
  • principal investigator: Dr. Annette Brose, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
  • Blanke, E. S., Riediger, M., & Brose, A. (2018). Pathways to happiness are multidirectional: Associations between state mindfulness and everyday affective experience. Emotion, 18(2), 202-211. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000323



Conferences organised:

Head of event management, FoAHB Doctoral Conference 2021, University of Plymouth (3rd/4th June 2021)

Other academic activities:

Conference presentation 

  • “The leaves are a bit poorly” - Exploring preschoolers’ feelings and actions towards nature​, 10th International Outdoor Education Research Conference (IOERC), Tokyo, Japan (4th - 8th March 2024)
  • “Flies don’t make honey” - Exploring preschoolers’ feelings and actions towards nature and the use of a preschool garden, EECERA Conference 2023, Lisbon, Portugal (30th August - 2nd September 2023)
  • "Researching Collaborative Partnerships Across Learning Environments​" (with Dr Jan Georgeson ), ECER Conference 2023, Glasgow, UK (22nd - 25th August 2023)
  • "Gardening with children: ​exploring preschoolers’ attitudes and behaviour towards the environment and the use of a preschool garden", IOERC 9 Conference 2022, online (18th – 22nd July 2022)​ 
  •  "Gardening with children: exploring preschoolers' attitudes and behaviour towards the environment and the use of a preschool garden", BECERA Conference 2022, online (22nd/23rd February 2022) 
  • "Preschoolers' awareness of what is good or healthy for the planet and how we can help the earth", Symposium "Exploring young children's views through the mosaic approach - examples from research", EECERA Conference 2021, online (6th September 2021) 
  • "Gardening with children: how a preschool garden can encourage preschoolers’ pro-environmental behaviour", Sustainable Earth Conference 2021, online (24th/25th June 2021) [Video]

Poster presentation

  • "Place-based learning in the neighbourhood in Early Years and Primary School", EECERA Conference 2023, Lisbon, Portugal (30th August - 2nd September 2023)
  • " What is good for our planet? - Exploring preschoolers’ attitudes and behaviour towards the environment through the use of participatory research methods", EECERA Conference 2022, Glasgow, UK (23rd - 26th August 2022) 
  • "Gardening with children: how a preschool garden can encourage preschoolers’ pro-environmental behaviour", EECERA Conference 2021, online (8th September 2021)

Conference Chairing

  • Chair of Symposium "The development of educational values and beliefs in teaching", EECERA Conference 2021 (6th - 10th September 2021)
  • Chair of various sessions, FoAHB Doctoral Conference 2021, University of Plymouth (3rd/4th June 2021)

Contact Kathrin