Profile

I live in Glasgow with my husband. I haven’t practiced for a while, but I have a red belt in Tukido and have passed my Grade 2 piano exam. I enjoy nature programmes, watching documentaries and reading looks about people’s lives. I am not a very good cook! I like to eat out. My favourite food is Italian food. I used to be a member of a small church music group. I like different types of music, including Lewis Capaldi. I also like to exercise. My favourite type of exercise is running. I once ran a half marathon and have walked over 100 miles in one week. I enjoy acting (despite being a bit shy!) and have been in plays with different drama groups I joined. I also used to enjoy writing stories and wrote a little book called “The Untouchables” about detectives!

My job involves teaching and conducting research.

I mainly teach the subject of health psychology. This involves looking at how our behaviour e.g. the things we eat and drink, and whether or not we exercise, can affect how healthy we are.

In my research I look at how we experience pain.  We often think that pain is bad for us but sometimes it can be good because it gives us important information about what is happening in our bodies. Sometimes to look at pain I use a machine that makes water really cold and ask people to put their hand in the water for as long as they can. This can make their hand feel sore, like when you hold a snowball with your bare hands. This allows us to measure pain in the laboratory.

I also look at how the way we think and feel about our pain can also affect how much pain we feel pain.  When we are upset sometimes this makes our pain worse. What we believe is also important. If we think things are unfair then this can also make pain worse.

I start each working day early with a cup of coffee in my hand. Each working day is different. I might have online meetings to attend with work colleagues or students. Or I might be teaching or planning my teaching work or doing my research work. I spend a lot of time reading and writing my plans for research. I try to spend time reading and writing in the morning and having meetings in the afternoon. I also answer a lot of emails every day. Normally I answer emails at the start of the day, around lunchtime and then later in the day.