Profile

I studied sport and exercise science at University and then went on to do a PhD (3 more years of studying at University!) in exercise neurophysiology – that looks at how the brain and the central nervous system works when we exercise.  In the lab I use a technique called magnetic brain stimulation to study how the brain sends signals to our muscles to make them contract so that we can move and do exercise.  When we get tired after doing a lot of physical activity, the brain isn’t so good at sending signals to our muscles because it too has become tired, and that’s why moving around feels a bit harder when we are worn out!

In my free time, as well as being a mum to my gorgeous 18 month old son, I love to do endurance sports, and have run several marathons, and even completed an Ironman Triathlon.

The great thing about working as a scientist is that no two days are ever the same!  That’s what I love about my job.  There are always lots of different experiments going on in the laboratory, and I supervise the students who are conducting them.  These experiments all involve looking at how the brain and the nervous system cope with the human body being pushed towards its limits.   So some of my day is always spent in the lab working with my team.  Many of our experiments utilise a special room where we can accurately set the temperature to be very hold, or extremely cold, or have less oxygen, like we experience when we are at high altitude.

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There are less exciting bits to my day like answering emails and having meetings but I like the fact I am nearly always interacting with other people.  As a scientist working with humans (as opposed to animals or looking at cells in a petri dish) I spend most of my days interacting with other people, whether they are participants in our experiments, athletes who have come to test their fitness, or working with my students.  I also like the fact that I learn something new every day!  Sometimes I learn by reading other peoples work, sometimes my students will tell me something they have found out in their work that I didn’t know before.