Profile

My Interview

• How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

  Paradoxically sociable introvert

  What did you want to be after you left school?

  For ages I wanted to be a historian like my parents, before realising I didn't particularly like studying it!

  Were you ever in trouble at school?

  I got a detention for hiding under the desk once. But basically no, I was a proper nerd.

  Who is your favourite singer or band?

  Another tough one. I would say maybe Sufjan Stevens.

  What's your favourite food?

  Anything spicy!

  If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!

  Well obviously world peace and a healthy family...but if I have one more then a couple more inches in height wouldn't go amiss

  Tell us a joke.

  How does NASA organise a party? They planet!

  What topics do you work on?

  My research looks at how young people learn to regulate or control their emotions, and how this relates to socioemotional wellbeing and mental health. In particular, I study reactive aggression: that is, aggression caused by threat, frustration or provocation, and which is associated with excessive emotional reactivity and poor emotion regulation. I work with both typically developing adults and adolescents as well as young people with conduct problems.

  What methods do you use?

  I use a variety of research methods from cognitive neuroscience and developmental psychology, including functional and structural neuroimaging, cognitive testing, and questionnaires.

  Who was your favourite teacher?

  I was lucky to have lots of excellent teachers! I had a great maths teacher whose enthusiasm for the beauty of the subject was really inspiring. I also learned a lot from my favourite English teacher about thinking things through for myself. But I decided not to study English at University as I worried it would ruin the pleasure of reading.

  Me and my work

  I’m a Reader in Psychology at Royal Holloway University of London. As an academic and university lecturer, my role is split between teaching undergraduate and MSc students, managing our department’s PhD programme, and my own research. I direct the Emotion, Development and Brain Lab, and our research is aimed at understanding how young people learn to regulate or control their emotions, how this relates to mental health, and how brain development may contribute to this process.

   

  Typical day

  The great thing about being an academic is that there’s no such thing as a typical day, which makes for a very varied career. One day I will be in the lecture theatre, the next I could be running a neuroimaging project in the MRI lab, and the next I could be presenting our research at a conference anywhere in the world. However, most days are a mixture of meetings with students and my research group, helping my department to run smoothly, and of course, emails!