Academic Interests
This research will aim to investigate the links between emotion, cognition and subjectivity in humans, and then to test whether the same rules apply to non-human subjects that are not capable of verbally reporting their emotional state. Possible gains include a greater understand of the degree of subjectivity in human emotion (
i.e. how much we know about what we feel) and a more accurate view of what it is like to be a non-human animal, as well as general improvements to animal welfare practice.
"The brain is my second favourite organ"
Woody Allen
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During my M.Sc. at Oxford I revised and elaborated upon my biological skills ranging from molecular techniques such as PCR and sequencing to badger trapping and bird ringing on Skomer, all the time with the emphasis on how these techniques can be used to complement each other to provide greatest insight into the system being studied (a theme also central to my undergraduate degree in Natural Science at the
University of Cambridge).
Reflecting this diversity I carried out two distinct research projects. The first was undertaken at the
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics under the supervision of Prof. Anthony P. Monaco and Dr. Silvia Paracchini and used cell biological techniques (cell culture and specifically designed assays) to investigate the cell adhesion properties of the protein product of the Dyslexia associated gene
KIAA0319. This will hopefully help to increase our understanding of how normal cortical developmental processes work as well as identifying the deficits underlying Dyslexia.
My second research project saw a change of focus and scale as I carried out a field project in
Wytham Woods, the University of Oxford's long term field study site run by the
Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology in the
Department of Zoology. I looked at the effects of fine scale variation in the timing of resource availability on the success and timing of breeding in great tits
(Parus major) under the supervision of
Amy Hinks and Prof. Ben Sheldon. Answers to questions such as this are of course becoming all the more urgent as the effects of global climate change begin to be felt.
I am now further indulging my interests in animal behaviour with doctoral study at the University of Bristol after a year away from formal study.