Lecturer in Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at Lancaster University. Module coordinator for PSC112 Introduction to Neuroscience. Departmental Research Seminar Organiser.

My research at Oxford University Babylab focuses on the neural correlates of early executive function development in infancy and early childhood. I am working as part of a wider team on a large, longitudinal study (The Oxford Early EF Study) which seeks to study the trajectories of executive function development across the first three years of life.My current project uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy to explore the neural underpinnings of inhibitory control in infants. This technique is completely child friendly, and provides us with an indirect measure of brain activity by taking advantage of the different absorption spectra of oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin in the brain.I am also interested in the ways in which early executive function skills relate to a number of skills in later childhood - including school readiness and academic achievement, and am very keen to study relations between socioeconomic status and executive function development.

Working for Dr Karla Holmboe as a post-doctoral researcher to continue our research on early inhibitory control development.

Working in the Baby Learning Lab (PI: Professor Lauren Emberson) to develop skills using the Gowerlabs LUMO (high-density diffuse optical tomography system) with infants in the first year of life. Initiated a project that seeks to push the analytic boundaries of background functional connectivity analyses for use with infant fNIRS data.

As part of my MRC iCASE PhD studentship, I conducted an internship with Gowerlabs where I worked on processing pipelines for high-density DOT data, particularly relating to image reconstruction. I also gained hands-on experience using their LUMO system to collect neuroimaging data from adults.

Following my enrollment on the Teach First program, I have acquired four years of teaching experience. This is comprised of three years as a class teacher; where I spent two years in Year 5, and one year in Year 2. During my third year of teaching, I also took on the role as Literacy subject lead in which I facilitated and managed the introduction of a new whole-school Literacy program (Success for All) into the school timetable and curriculum, and led training sessions to staff across the school.Whilst studying for my Master's degree, I have also spent one year teaching part-time, in my role as a cover teacher. This role has enabled me to gain experience in teaching across the entire primary school age-range; from EYFS to Year 6.

Following a successful voluntary internship as a research assistant (part of the University's research experience scheme), I was offered a paid research assistant role - which I completed alongside my final year studies. In this role, I was responsible for the coding of multimedia data for a large, longitudinal project which examined the development of executive functions in a group of children across a number of years. This role enabled me to work alongside an early career research fellow to gain numerous collaborative and organisational skills, and it was here that I acquired a valuable insight into the world of research.