Hagar Goldberg

My research and scholarly work focus on the intersection of neuroscience, learning, and human development, with a particular emphasis on translating neuroscientific insights into educational practice. I investigate how knowledge about brain development, cognition, emotion, and neurodiversity can inform learning environments that support both academic success and well-being. My early research in cognitive and social neuroscience examined the neural mechanisms underlying emotion perception, social cognition, and human behaviour, using neuroimaging and behavioural methods to study how the brain processes emotionally meaningful stimuli and social signals. During my postdoctoral fellowship, I explored how insights from neuroscience can inform the development of empathy and social-emotional competencies in educational contexts. This interdisciplinary work combined perspectives from neuroscience, psychology, and education to better understand how social, emotional, and cognitive processes interact during development and learning.

Building on this foundation, my current scholarly work focuses on neuroeducation, an emerging interdisciplinary field that bridges neuroscience, psychology, and education. My work explores how neuroscience can inform teaching practices, learning strategies, and educational environments that align with how the brain learns and develops. Key areas include the neuroscience of learning and memory, neurodiversity, student well-being, and the social-emotional dimensions of learning. A central goal of my work is knowledge translation—bringing insights from neuroscience into educational systems in ways that are effective, practical, scalable, and inclusive. Through research, teaching and course design, I aim to develop evidence-based educational practices that support diverse learners while maintaining high academic standards.