I completed my undergraduate Psychology degree (BSc (Hons) Psychology) at the University of Kent, Canterbury, U.K., before completing an MSc in Evolutionary Psychology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, U.K. I then continued my postgraduate studies at the University of St Andrews, completing a PhD in Social Cognitive Neuroscience. Following my PhD, I spent four years working as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Kent, on a project exploring the cognitive basis of social communication across the lifespan, followed by a few years as an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in Psychology at the University of Dundee. I have also been a visiting researcher at Peking University, Beijing, China.

I joined the University of St Andrews as an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in Cognitive Neuroscience in Autumn 2024.

Social communication plays an integral part of our daily lives; whether communicating with a friend or stranger, we are constantly computing and evaluating mental states of both ourselves and our interactive partners. This ability to consider other people’s mental states - amongst other key capacities - is typically referred to using the umbrella term 'social cognition'. These social cognitive abilities are one of the main focuses of research in the Interacting Minds Lab, exploring social cognition from multiple perspectives, including the cognitive and neural underpinnings of social cognition, developmental perspectives, as well as cultural and social factors that may play an influential role.