About my current job
As an academic my time is split between my research, teaching our undergraduate/postgraduate students, and managing the department's PhD programme. I'm very lucky because I really enjoy all three aspects of the job. My research looks at how adolescents develop the ability to manage emotions, and why some young people may 'see red' and behave aggressively.
Did you have a favourite tutor/lecturer/prof, and how did they inspire you?
So many staff in the EP department supported and inspired me that it's difficult to highlight just one. However, I will always be profoundly grateful to my first year tutor Dr Mike Woodin, who sadly passed away in 2004. Tutorials with Mike were the highlight of the week. Every topic came alive with his infectious enthusiasm: from how the brain is organised, to how babies learn, to how probability works. His kindness in indulging my ramblings as a first year undergraduate allowed me to grow in confidence and start to think like a scientist. It was his example that first led me to pursue an academic career, and if I'm ever considered even half as good a tutor, I will be pleased!
How did friends made during your time at EP influence your life?
I met my best friend Lucy when we both came to Oxford to interview for a place to study EP (luckily we both got in!), and I met my husband in the old Tinbergen Building on the first day of the MSc in Neuroscience. So it's fair to say life would have been very different without Oxford EP!
Fond memories of my time at EP
Lucy and I used to study together a lot. The evening before our first Final exam, we went out on to the flat roof behind our shared house to revise. But when we tried to go back in we realised, to our horror, that the window had jammed shut and we were stuck up there with no phones and no dinner! Visions flashed before my eyes of being trapped on the roof all night and missing the exam. Luckily the reality was less dramatic: our housemates came home and rescued us and we passed our exams with flying colours. 13 years, 5 degrees, 2 best-lady speeches and 3 children later, we're still the best of friends.
