The feelings we experience when watching horror movies or walking through a haunted house should keep us away, but some of us can't get enough! Whether we enjoy it for the thrill, the community, or because we learn something about ourselves, recreational fear can provide valuable insights into what it means to be human. To explore this area, I use an array of (predominantly) quantitative methods such as questionnaires or psychophysiological measurements. Further, I am interested in the representation of mental health in media and how it perpetuates or attenuates stigmatised beliefs. 

I additionally research the modelling of psychiatric illness in non-human species. Specifically, I am interested in how we effectively capture the cognitive heterogeneity seen in the diagnoses of psychosis and schizophrenia when using a preclinical model. I predominantly focus on environmental risk factors such as maternal immune activation (MIA) and the role of the postnatal environment as both further insults and/or interventions to reduce dysfunction. 

My approach to teaching is student-focused. I aim to ensure that every student feels their unique needs are met, and their questions are answered. To do so, I employ a wide array of techniques such as gamification and scaffolding to ensure that everyone feels engaged, but also supported to the point their own skills are refined. 

I also find it extremely important to engage with students on topics that they may find interesting or relevant. One such way is through a reocurring engagement project I began as a collaboration with other lecturers both at the University of Brighton and the University of Manchester. This project aims to apply research and theory from Psychology and Neuroscience to media from the Horror genre, affording students the opportunity to see the 'science of the scare.'