About · Hey Veyra

Dr Samuel Swidzinski teaching a research workshop — Sam, teaching. The whole idea started in rooms like this one.

The founder's story

From research participant, to researcher, to founder.

In 2013, I was a participant in a Wellcome-funded research study at King's College London. Years later I was on the other side of the same work, as a researcher on NIHR-funded cognitive remediation trials, then a PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. I've seen this field from every seat in the room, and one thing became impossible to ignore: the evidence for what works sits locked in academic journals, while the young people whose planning, attention or memory is getting in the way of their learning wait years for anyone to look.

Difficulties get labelled as laziness. Underperformance gets mistaken for lack of ability. And support arrives years too late, after disengagement, anxiety and academic decline are already entrenched.

Veyra is our answer: clinically grounded cognitive assessment and skills training, delivered through something young people actually want to engage with, run by the schools who know them best. Not another bolt-on service: infrastructure schools run themselves.

— Dr Samuel Swidzinski, Founder

What we believe

Five things we hold to.

Cognitive skills can be strengthened

Executive function isn't fixed. With structured, evidence-informed practice, students can build the systems that let effort turn into progress.

Assessment should be proactive

Understanding how a student learns shouldn't depend on them first falling behind.

Support should be structured and measurable

Vague intentions help no one. Support should be specific, evidence-informed, and reviewable.

Engagement is part of the science

If you want young people to actually get better, you have to get them on side first. So we take the science and the game equally seriously.

Delay is preventable

The single biggest difference for a young person is being understood sooner. That's the whole point.

The team

Clinicians, researchers and game developers, in one room.

The unusual thing about Veyra is who builds it: psychologists and psychometricians alongside Unreal Engine developers and character artists, with NHS clinical advisers and enterprise engineering advisers. It takes the science to make it work, and the craft to make students want to play.

Dr Samuel SwidzinskiCEO & FounderCognitive assessment and remediation researcher. PhD from King's College London's IoPPN, UKRI Smart Grant awardee and Visiting Lecturer at Imperial College London.

An ZhouCreative DirectorDirects Veyra's creative work: the game world, the characters, and the design of the assessment and training experiences, where scientific integrity has to meet something students want to play.

Frank ZhengTechnical DirectorDirects Veyra's technical and AI programme: the guard-railed in-game guide, Ask Veyra and the platform behind them. Enterprise AI background at Deloitte, trained in cognitive assessment and remediation research at Cambridge.

Sonya ChristensenPartnerships DirectorLeads school partnerships and the membership programme, the person schools meet first, and the person who makes sure the partnership stays a partnership.

Matthew LoweProduction LeadUnreal Engine software specialist, leading UI and front-end development of the Veyra game world.

Ali AshkboosTechnical LeadFull-stack developer behind Veyra's backend architecture, secure data systems, and adaptive cognitive modelling infrastructure.

Dr Brett Raymond-BarkerResearch LeadPsychological researcher specialising in psychometrics and quantitative methodology, overseeing assessment validation and research protocols.

Danny LovickUI ArtistUI specialist, ensuring interfaces are engaging and functional for students and teachers alike.

Jude KeelingCharacter ArtistEnsures the characters in Veyra's world are developed in an engaging and psychologically meaningful way.

Adam PazikTechnical AdviserDirector of Engineering at Adobe, advising on scalable architecture, internationalisation, and enterprise-grade AI system design.

Dr Sameer JauharClinical AdviserSenior NHS clinician and researcher at Imperial College London.

The company

Veyra is made by Schologists.

Schologists Magna Ltd is a UK company founded on a simple mission: to support young people's potential through clinically grounded cognitive science. Schologists' cognitive training programmes are accredited by the British Accreditation Council, and Veyra, our platform, is supported by UK government innovation funding through an Innovate UK Smart Grant.

Too many students wait too long to be understood. We're here to change that.