Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Research Fellow - Learning Lab
Overview
Dr Chase Sherwell is a Research Fellow at the UQ Learning Lab and the Principal Research Technician for the Compassionate Mind Research Group in the School of Psychology. His research combines neuroscientific, psychological, and educational perspectives to provide tools for enacting learning, well-being, and behavioural change in real-world contexts. With a focus on application, Dr Sherwell’s work aims to identify metrics of internal psychological mechanisms that can be easily interpreted and integrated by professionals and end-users to facilitate skill development and mental health in everyday life.
With a background in cognitive neuroscience, psychology, and education research, Dr Sherwell leads projects that aim to explain learning, development, and mental health across disciplinary lines: from the level of neural networks through to everyday experience. Integrating multi-modal techniques including digital interaction, biometrics, and neurophysiology, Dr Sherwell develops tools, user experiences, and analytics that provide actionable metrics and insights for professionals and researchers.
Dr Sherwell is a Research Fellow in the UQ Learning Lab: a team of multi-disciplinary researchers, educators, and industry partners who collaborate to transform learning, teaching, and training in diverse school and post-school environments through the science of learning. In this role, Dr Sherwell lends his expertise in cognitive neuroscience and psychology to develop projects aimed at understanding and measuring the barriers, facilitators, and mechanisms of self-regulation in professional contexts. He leads projects designing digital tools providing educators with real-time feedback on learner states and skill development integrating smartphone apps and biometrics from wearable devices.
Dr Sherwell is also the Principal Research Technician for the Compassionate Mind Research Group – the leading research hub for Compassion Science in Australia, based at the UQ School of Psychology. In this role, he oversees research design and development across projects investigating the mechanisms of prosocial behaviour in everyday life, barriers to clinical interventions, and the efficacy of online interventions for mental health.
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
- Bachelor (Honours), The University of Queensland
- Bachelor of Science, The University of Queensland
Publications
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Journal Article: Compassion training influences heart-rate variability within severe depression
Kim, Jeffrey J., Sherwell, Chase, Parker, Stacey L. and Kirby, James N. (2024). Compassion training influences heart-rate variability within severe depression. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 16 100760, 100760. doi: 10.1016/j.jadr.2024.100760
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Journal Article: A multi-level meta-analytic review of attachment and fears of compassion
Varley, Deanna, Sherwell, Chase S., Fu, Mina and Kirby, James N. (2024). A multi-level meta-analytic review of attachment and fears of compassion. Personality and Individual Differences, 218 112477, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2023.112477
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Journal Article: Compassion as a framework for creating individual and group-level wellbeing in the classroom: new directions
Kirby, James N., Sherwell, Chase, Lynn, Sasha and Moloney-Gibb, Dylan (2023). Compassion as a framework for creating individual and group-level wellbeing in the classroom: new directions. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 33 (1), 2-12. doi: 10.1017/jgc.2023.5
Grants
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Metacognition and Psychological Safety during Problem-Based Learning Simulation Exercises
(2022) Mater Misericordiae Ltd
Supervision
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The Student and Teacher Relationship: Exploring Behavioural and Neuroscience Variables that impact upon Student and Teacher Wellbeing
Doctor Philosophy
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Social and Affective Impacts of Adult Attachment Style on The Experience of Compassion
Doctor Philosophy
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Feasibility and pilot testing of a compassion-focused intervention in young offenders and children in care
Doctor Philosophy
Publications
Book Chapter
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Building a secure learning environment through social connectedness
Cunnington, Ross, MacMahon, Stephanie, Sherwell, Chase and Gillies, Robyn (2020). Building a secure learning environment through social connectedness. Building a secure learning environment through social connectedness. (pp. 112-124) edited by Annemaree Carroll, Ross Cunnington and Annita Nugent. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780429027833-8
Journal Article
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Compassion training influences heart-rate variability within severe depression
Kim, Jeffrey J., Sherwell, Chase, Parker, Stacey L. and Kirby, James N. (2024). Compassion training influences heart-rate variability within severe depression. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 16 100760, 100760. doi: 10.1016/j.jadr.2024.100760
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A multi-level meta-analytic review of attachment and fears of compassion
Varley, Deanna, Sherwell, Chase S., Fu, Mina and Kirby, James N. (2024). A multi-level meta-analytic review of attachment and fears of compassion. Personality and Individual Differences, 218 112477, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2023.112477
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Kirby, James N., Sherwell, Chase, Lynn, Sasha and Moloney-Gibb, Dylan (2023). Compassion as a framework for creating individual and group-level wellbeing in the classroom: new directions. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 33 (1), 2-12. doi: 10.1017/jgc.2023.5
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Perrykkad, Kelsey, Sherwell, Chase, Kirby, James and Hohwy, Jakob (2023). Beliefs about action efficacy mediate the relationship between self-concept clarity and self-reported compassionate action. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. doi: 10.1037/cns0000349
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Reaction Time “Mismatch Costs” Change with the Likelihood of Stimulus–Response Compatibility
Campbell, Megan E. J., Sherwell, Chase S., Cunnington, Ross, Brown, Scott and Breakspear, Michael (2022). Reaction Time “Mismatch Costs” Change with the Likelihood of Stimulus–Response Compatibility. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 30 (1), 1-16. doi: 10.3758/s13423-022-02161-6
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The role of likeability in discriminating between kindness and compassion
Kirby, James N., Gerrish, Ruby, Sherwell, Chase and Gilbert, Paul (2022). The role of likeability in discriminating between kindness and compassion. Mindfulness, 13 (6), 1555-1564. doi: 10.1007/s12671-022-01900-z
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Chan, Man Ching Esther, Moate, Josephine, with the Social Unit of Learning project team, Clarke, David, Cunnington, Ross, Díez-Palomar, Javier, Friesen, Marita, Haataja, Eeva, Hošpesová, Alena, Kuntze, Sebastian, Nieminen, Juuso, Novotná, Jarmila, Ochoa, Xavier, Sherwell, Chase, Tran, Dung and Tuohilamp, Laura (2022). Learning research in a laboratory classroom: a reflection on complementarity and commensurability among multiple analytical accounts. ZDM - Mathematics Education, 54 (2), 317-329. doi: 10.1007/s11858-022-01330-0
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Fynes-Clinton, Samuel, Sherwell, Chase, Ziaei, Maryam, York, Ashley, O’Connor, Emma Sanders, Forrest, Kylee, Flynn, Libby, Bower, Julie, Reutens, David and Carroll, Annemaree (2022). Neural activation during emotional interference corresponds to emotion dysregulation in stressed teachers. npj Science of Learning, 7 (1) 5, 5. doi: 10.1038/s41539-022-00123-0
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Carroll, Annemaree, Gillies, Robyn M., Cunnington, Ross, McCarthy, Molly, Sherwell, Chase, Palghat, Kelsey, Goh, Felicia, Baffour, Bernard, Bourgeois, Amanda, Rafter, Mary and Seary, Tennille (2019). Changes in science attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and physiological arousal after implementation of a multimodal, cooperative intervention in primary school science classes. Information and Learning Science, 120 (7/8), 409-425. doi: 10.1108/ILS-08-2018-0089
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Timing in predictive coding: the roles of task relevance and global probability
Sherwell, Chase S., Garrido, Marta I. and Cunnington, Ross (2017). Timing in predictive coding: the roles of task relevance and global probability. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 29 (5), 780-792. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01085
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Intergroup relationships do not reduce racial bias in empathic neural responses to pain
Contreras-Huerta, Luis Sebastian, Hielscher, Emily, Sherwell, Chase S., Rens, Natalie and Cunnington, Ross (2014). Intergroup relationships do not reduce racial bias in empathic neural responses to pain. Neuropsychologia, 64, 263-270. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.09.045
Other Outputs
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Predictive timing in perception and action
Sherwell, Chase (2017). Predictive timing in perception and action. PhD Thesis, Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2017.762
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Neural processes underlying the temporal allocation of attention
Sherwell, Chase (2011). Neural processes underlying the temporal allocation of attention. Honours Thesis, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland.
Grants (Administered at UQ)
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Metacognition and Psychological Safety during Problem-Based Learning Simulation Exercises
(2022) Mater Misericordiae Ltd
PhD and MPhil Supervision
Current Supervision
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The Student and Teacher Relationship: Exploring Behavioural and Neuroscience Variables that impact upon Student and Teacher Wellbeing
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
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Social and Affective Impacts of Adult Attachment Style on The Experience of Compassion
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
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Feasibility and pilot testing of a compassion-focused intervention in young offenders and children in care
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
