About

I am an Associate Professor in Psychology at the College of Health, Psychology and Social Care. I lead the Mathematics Anxiety Research Group (www.marg.wp.derby.ac.uk) and I am Chair of the College Research Committee.

Research interests

I have a broad range of interests across psychology, but the main focus of my work is within maths education and professional occupations that require number processing (such as drug dosage calculations in nurses and healthcare professionals). I research the interplay between emotion and mathematical processing. This encompasses factors such as maths anxiety, maths resilience, maths confidence, maths self-efficacy, and maths attitudes.

Recent publications

Hunt, T. E., & Petronzi, D. (2024). Recognising and measuring mathematics anxiety and resilience. In S. Johnston-Wilder & C. Lee (Eds), The mathematical resilience handbook: How everyone can progress in mathematics. Routledge.

Owen K, Barnes C, Hunt T. E., Sheffield D. (2023). Measuring categorisation in pre-school children: new toolkit, new insights. Journal of Human Growth and Development, 33, 184-193. https://doi.org/10.36311/jhgd.v33.14750

DiStefano, M., Retanal, F., Bureau, J.-F., Hunt, T. E., Lafay, A., Osana, H. P., Schwarchuck, S.-L., Trepiak, P., Xu, C., LeFevre, J.-A., & Maloney, E. A. (2023). Relations between math achievement, math anxiety, and the quality of parent–child interactions while solving math problems. Education Sciences, 13, 307. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13030307

Sharifi, S., & Hunt, T. E. (2023). Online learning and University students’ anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic. In P. Macaulay & L. M. Tan (Eds), Applied psychology readings. SCAP 2022. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2613-8_4  

Terry, J., Ross, R. M.......,Hunt, T. E..........& Field, A. P. (2023). Data from an International MultiCentre Study of Statistics and Mathematics Anxieties and Related Variables in University Students (the SMARVUS Dataset). Journal of Open Psychology Data, 11: 8, pp. 1–25. https://doi.org/10.5334/jopd.80

Batashvili, M., Cipora, K., & Hunt, T. E. (2022). Measurement of mathematics anxiety in an Israeli adult population. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 8(1), 148-165. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.6531

Hunt, T. E., & Maloney, E. A. (2022). Appraisals of previous maths experiences play an important role in maths anxiety. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1-12, https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14805

Hunt, T. E. & Skyrme, S. (2022). A guide for teachers with maths anxiety (and/or anxiety about teaching maths). The Maths Anxiety Trust, U.K.

Hunt, T. E., & Tan, M. L. (Eds.). (2022). Applied psychology readings: Selected papers from the Singapore conference on applied psychology 2021. Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5086-5  

Membership of professional bodies

• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• Chartered Psychologist as recognised by the British Psychological Society

Professional interests

My professional interests are connected to my research interests. I work with various schools and colleges to teach and discuss strategies to reduce maths anxiety in the classroom. My work also extends to professional areas in which maths anxiety is a key consideration, such as anxiety when carrying out drug dosage calculations.

I am a chartered psychologist and senior fellow of Advance HE. I am also a committee member of the Maths Anxiety Trust and regularly work with organisations such as Learnus UK and National Numeracy.

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) Psychology
• PgCert Research Methods
• PhD

Recent conferences

Hunt, T. E. (2024, July). Numbers without borders: A comparative study of mathematics anxiety and its predictive factors [Paper presentation]. Mathematical Resilience Network Conference, University of Warwick, Coventry, U.K.

Hunt, T. E., & Petronzi, D. (2024, June). Maths anxiety [Workshop presentation]. East Midlands Maths Hub Conference, Lincoln, U.K.

Wales, E., Trudel, G., Hunt, T. E., & Maloney, E. A. (2024, June). The role of math anxiety and gender in intrusive thoughts experienced during a math test [Poster presentation]. Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour & Cognitive Science Conference, Alberta, Canada.

Hunt, T. E., & Steiner, E. T. (2024, June). Instructional framing and math performance: The relevance of state and trait math anxiety [Poster presentation]. Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference, Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Hunt, T. E. & Waldron, M. B. K. (2023, June). Understanding and tackling maths anxiety [Invited presentation]. Mathematics Education Innovation Conference, Keele, U.K.

Waldron, B. K. M., Stupple, E. J. N., Staples, P., & Hunt, T. E. (2023, June). The role of maths anxiety and confidence in understanding performance on both the long and verbal versions of the Cognitive Reflection Test [Poster presentation]. Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference, Loughborough, U.K.

Hunt, T. E. (2023, March). Maths anxiety: A psychological perspective [Invited presentation]. Centres for Excellence in Maths Motivation and Engagement Conference, London, U.K.

Sharifi, S., & Hunt, T. E. (2022, December). Students’ feelings of anxiety in online teaching and learning [Paper presentation]. Singapore Conference on Applied Psychology, Singapore.

Hunt, T. E. (2022, Nov.). Understanding and tackling maths anxiety [Invited presentation]. Compassion and Wellbeing in Education Conference, University of Derby, Derby, U.K.

Hunt, T. E. (2022, Oct.). Maths anxiety [Invited presentation]. PiXL Network annual maths conference, London, UK.

Hunt, T. E., Napiorkowska, A., Popa, I-L., & Bagdasar, O. (2022, July). Mathematics teaching anxiety in Romanian pre-service elementary teachers [Presentation]. 3^rd International Conference on Developing Mathematical Resilience (online).

Retanal, F., Di Lonardo Burr, S., Xu, C., Bureau, J-F., DiStefano, M., Douglas, H., Hunt, T. E., Lafay, A., LeFevre, J-A., Osana, H. P., Simms, V., Shujie Song, C., Skwarchuk, S-L., Trepiak, P., Wylie, J., & Maloney, E. A. (2022, June). Exploring parent-child interactions around math homework of 8–12-year-old Canadian children. In J. E. Salminen (Chair), Development of math skills - the role of parents and home environment [Symposium]. Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference, Antwerp, Belgium.

Hunt, T. E., Napiorkowska, A., Popa, I-L., & Bagdasar, O. (2022, June). Mathematics teaching anxiety in Romanian pre-service elementary teachers. In N. Burrell (Chair), Math and teaching anxiety experienced by preservice and practicing elementary school teachers [Symposium]. Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society Conference, Antwerp, Belgium.

Hunt, T. E. (2021, Oct.). Measuring mathematics anxiety [Presentation]. British Dyslexia Association Dyscalculia Conference (online)

Sharifi, S., & Hunt, T. E. (2021, June). Students’ feelings of anxiety in online teaching and learning [Poster presentation]. The University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching Conference (online)

Marshall, E. M., Rowlett, P., Verrier, D., & Hunt, T. E. (2021, June). Can pre-course anxiety & attitudes predict grades? [Paper presentation]. Materials and Engineering Research Institute Conference (online)

Hunt, T. E., & Maloney, E. (2021, May). Understanding the relation between maths anxiety, resilience, and attitudes: Appraisals of previous experiences of maths. In S. Johnston-Wilder (Chair), Understanding cognitive and emotional barriers to learning maths: becoming part of the solution [Symposium]. British Dyslexia Association International Conference (online)

Hunt, T. E. (2021, May). Mathematics anxiety at a global level: Investigating socio-cognitive-affective barriers to maths education [Presentation]. University of Derby Global Challenges Week Conference, Derbyshire, UK (online)

Retanal, F., Di Lonardo Burr, S., Xu, C., Bureau, J.-F., DiStefano, M., Douglas, H., Hunt, T. E., Lafay, A., LeFevre, J.-A., Osana, H. P., Simms, V., Song, S. C., Skwarchuk, S.-L, Trepiak, P., Wylie, J., Maloney, E. A. (2021, May). Children’s math anxiety predicts the overall negativity of the math homework interaction, but parents’ math anxiety does not [Poster presentation]. Association for Psychological Science (APS) Conference (online)

Hunt, T. E. (2021, March). Maths anxiety: How can we measure it and what can we do about it? [Invited workshop presentation]. Derbyshire Educational Psychology Service Annual Conference, Derbyshire, UK (online)

Experience in industry

I have carried out various consultancy activities on the topic of maths anxiety. Organisations I have worked with include: Bristol City Council; De Ferrers Community School; Derbyshire County Council; Luminate Education Group; Numeracy for Life; PiXL; REC Parenting; Sigma Trust; Teach First; Uxbridge and Harrow College; White Rose Education.

I regularly give talks and workshops on understanding and overcoming maths anxiety and test anxiety.

In the media

I have published various blogs via different organisations, e.g. National Numeracy and Pearson Education. I have given radio interviews in which I talk about maths anxiety, and appeared in an episode of BBC Radio 4's Bringing up Britain: BBC Radio 4 - Bringing Up Britain, Series 15, Why Does Maths Make Me Anxious?

I have also appeared in various local and national newspapers.

International experience

I have visited other countries (including Turkey, Uganda, and Romania) to meet with academic colleagues and teachers in local schools to discuss the issue of maths anxiety and ways to tackle it.

I have also presented at several international conferences.

Much of my research involves collaboration with colleagues from across the world.

Teaching responsibilities

I teach on various modules and lead a third-year undergraduate module called Psychology in Education. 

In addition, I supervise research projects across a range of programmes.