About my current job
I teach into the HPS program as well as foundational Arts subjects; research; service (normal academic teaching and research role). My current research focus is on the influence of gender related beliefs and attitudes on science, and organisational attitudes and judgements.
(Note from EP: You may wish to check out Cordelia's books. Her most recent publication is Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Differences.
Did you have a favourite tutor/lecturer/prof, and how did they inspire you?
Perhaps because of his clinical background and research expertise, somehow I always felt better after tutorials with David Clark. And I still remember a tutorial in which I somehow switched from wanting to do ok, to wanting to do well and feeling that was possible.
Do you have a lesson or advice that you'd give to current students/researchers at EP?
Find time, somewhere along the way, to reflect about your purpose. By this I mean things like, what would you like to achieve, and learn? What contributions would you like to make to a profession, industry or society? There are no right answers to these questions, but developing a sense of purpose will give you courage, passion, persistence and resilience in whatever path you take.
If you've worrying about making the 'wrong' decision, watch the TED talk by Ruth Chang. To quote her: "hard choices are precious opportunities for us to celebrate what is special about the human condition, that the reasons that govern our choices as correct or incorrect sometimes run out, and it is here, in the space of hard choices, that we have the power to create reasons for ourselves to become the distinctive people that we are."
Other reflections
In my final year while revising for exams, I remember being very struck by how bad my first year essays were. It made me realise how much I had developed and learned over the three years. I think this is so important to keep in mind, this scope we all have for self-development. Sometimes we look up and people far beyond us in our careers and think, 'I couldn't do that' and, in fact, we are probably right. But we are close to the next step and then, having learned more and honed our skills, we are ready for the next, and then the next, and so on.
