Rauno Parrila's research focuses on psychological, linguistic, and social correlates of both typical and atypical development of reading and academic achievement. He has a keen interest in reading instruction and interventions, reading development and difficulties in different orthographies, and compensation of learning difficulties in both children and adults. His research is often interdisciplinary, and he has been named as the Australia’s Research Field Leader in both Early Childhood Education and in Special Education since moving to Australia in 2017.

Dr Parrila received his PhD in 1996 from the University of Alberta. He has since worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, an Associate Professor of Educational and Cognitive Psychology at the University of Tromsø, Norway, a Professor of Special Education at the University of Alberta, Canada, and as a Professor of Education at Macquarie University.

He is a docent in Applied Cognitive Psychology in Department of Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and a former Editor-in-Chief of Scientific Studies of Reading journal. He is currently an Associate Editor of Reading and Writing and Dyslexia journals.

Stuart initially trained as a teacher in England. Since then, he has taught in England, Canada and Australia in primary and secondary schools, teaching in a variety of settings. His areas of expertise are based on inclusive education, classroom and behaviour management, and, teacher self-efficacy, not only within Australia but also the United Kingdom, and North America. Stuart has researched extensively about issues regarding pre-service and in-service teachers’ ability to teach and manage inclusive classrooms effectively.