Dr. Venera Gashaj

was a Postdoc at ETH Zurich, working at the Professorship for Learning Sciences and Higher Education from September 2019 to August 2021 on the FLI project Neural Basis of Physics Learning. Additionally, she was involved in studies at the intersection of neuroscience and education, and started a collaboration with researchers at the Loughborough University to investigate math anxiety in ETH students. She studies how motor actions help learners grasp formal principles and concepts, and which neural mechanisms underpin this process. Her research projects investigate learning through the experience of movement and sensation, the developmental impact of the home learning environment, and the influence of math anxiety on STEM careers.

Before joining the team at ETH, Venera was a postdoctoral researcher in Neuroscience at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, where she investigated the neural basis of numerical skills. Venera earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at the University of Bern. There, she investigated the relationship between mathematics and motor skills longitudinally in children during their transition from kindergarten to second grade. During her time as a doctoral student, she obtained a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Higher Education. Prior to that, she earned a Master of Science in Developmental Psychology and Neuropsychology at the University of Bern. Venera has taught introductory courses in methodology and psychology, as well as courses in child development and developmental neuropsychology.