I started as a Lecturer at York St John University in summer 2023, having previously completed my PhD here (2018-22) and held the role of Graduate Teaching Assistant (now Academic Associate). My research interests centre on the topic of future thinking – the human capacity to simulate specific, first-person future events – and its links with memory, motivation and emotion.
Since working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hull (2022-23), I have become more interested in future thinking as a contributor to self-regulation and wellbeing. More broadly, I am interested in theoretical issues in psychology such as striking a balance between nomothetic (i.e., law-finding) and idiographic (i.e., explaining particularities of individuals' experience) approaches to studying psychology. I am also keen to engage with issues of pedagogical practice, for instance evidence-based approaches to student support and feedback, applying insights from my own research.
I mainly teach across the suite of BSc Psychology programmes, covering research methods and cognitive/biological psychology. I also teach a small component on Philosophy of Science on the Psychology MSc/MRes. This year, I am teaching on the following modules:
- PSY4015M Foundations of Research 1
- PSY4018M Foundations of Research 2 (Module Lead)
- PSY5011M Psychological Research 1
- PSY5012M Brain and Behaviour
- PSY5013M Social Psychology
- PSY6032M Mind, Mood and Tomorrow
- PSY7001M / EDR7004M Psychological Research Methods
As Level 6 Year Tutor, I coordinate academic tutoring for the final year BSc cohort, acting as a pastoral lead, and manage optional module allocations for the incoming cohort. I contribute to Student Voice by staffing regular course rep drop-ins with other members of the Psychology Programme Team.
My research can be divided into three core areas: cognitive mechanisms of future thought; nature and function of future-oriented emotions; and cognitive and motivational factors in student performance and wellbeing (e.g., procrastination). I am currently collaborating with researchers in Australia (Flinders University, Deakin University) and Belgium (KU Leuven) on questions relating to future-oriented emotion, including the blunting of anticipatory emotions (felt now about possible future events) in depression. I am supervising a PhD student working on future thinking as a tool for managing performance anxiety; a DCounsPsy student conducting mixed methods research on trauma and time perspective; and two MRes students in adjacent areas.
Recent publications
In addition to Higher Education teaching, I worked as a PhD researcher with The Brilliant Club, designing and delivering a bespoke psychology/neuroscience course for learners aged 13-15. I have also offered private tutoring in psychology and statistics. I am involved with professional organisations including the Experiment Psychology Society (EPS) and Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition (SARMAC). Finally, I have an interest in public engagement / psycho-education which has involved taking a role on the Pint of Science 2019 organising committee for York and hosting a webinar based on my research interests at York Festival of Ideas 2021.
