I apply insights and techniques from cognitive science to reduce educational, health, and social inequities and to test the efficacy of those approaches across contexts with different socioeconomic levels.
Since my PhD I’ve tried to identify methods in the interface of cognitive science and education to train, in preschoolers, cognitive processes that are necessary for school success (i.e., executive functions). Along my career, I trained them through computerized training; math and language school activities; and the school teaching of programming, testing the intervention impact using mostly behavioral measures.
Later, my work introduced the use of cognitive science bases and methods to improve health education (i.e., handwashing, dengue prevention) in low socioeconomic status primary school children and parents. I combined the basic research on core motivations of children learning inspired by cognitive science to examine how placing children in the role of health educators for their parents increased children and parents’ prevention knowledge.
Although my work is applied, it is also situated: the intervention aims, design, application and evaluation are informed by the community; it is also interdisciplinary and uses quantitative methodologies (e.g., mixed methods analysis) to answer educational questions. All my work is conducted in schools and involves teachers and educational authorities as an intrinsic part of the activities, as well as Foundations and ONGs interested in promoting education.
Mini bio
Julia Hermida holds a PhD in Psychology from the Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Argentina, and is a Psychologist from the Universidad de Buenos Aires. She currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Universidad Nacional de Hurlingham and as an Adjunct Researcher for Argentina’s National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET). Her research focuses on applying cognitive science insights and methods to reduce educational, health, and social inequalities, and on testing the efficacy of these approaches across rural and urban Latin American settings. Her work was recognized by IBRO-IBE/UNESCO as one of the two 2022 Science of Learning Fellows. She has taught numerous graduate and postgraduate courses in Psychology, Neuroscience, and the Science of Learning and has been a visiting professor in France, Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, and Uruguay. With over 35 scientific publications and more than 20 international lectures on these topics, she is also a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Developmental Science and will be a keynote speaker at CogSci 2026.