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What inspired you to pursue a career in your field?

My mother was an FE lecturer and taught nursing, which planted the seed of an education career in my mind. While I had always enjoyed working with animals, I particularly enjoyed interactions I had with members of the public during my work. During my Masters degree I developed an interest in Educational Interventions to reduce dog bite incidents, which I ended up studying for my Masters Thesis. From there my interest in teaching solidified as I both studied and practiced teaching methods to produce and deliver my own Educational Intervention to varied age groups over the course of the Thesis work!

What do you enjoy most about your role at the college?

I enjoy the variety, every day is different and I am never bored! There is always something new to work on, learn or teach, and every week there will be a student who asks me something new!

Areas of Interest and Expertise

My main areas of interest are Animal Welfare Science, and Health and Behaviour. I am a generalist overall don’t have one species I specialise in, but I am fond of dogs, invertebrates and livestock species!

What is your favourite animal and why?

My favourite animal is the spotted hyena! They have a bad reputation and are usually thought of as villains, but they are intelligent, social animals. They hunt as a group and have a higher hunt success rate than lions! Their social groups are Matriarchal, the females are always in charge, and a female’s hierarchy is passed down to her daughters. Finally, they occupy an interesting space in terms of evolutionary relationships, they look and behave like dogs, but are actually closer related to the cat family.

What advice would you give to students looking to succeed in your subject area?

My advice is try as many new things as you can! This means working with as many different species in as many different settings as possible. The experience is invaluable, and you will also learn what you like to work with most. Don’t settle for the first animal/place you find!

If your students had to describe you in three words, what would they say?

Busy, Enthusiastic, Intense.

What book, movie, artist or podcast do you always recommend?

For books I recommend ‘Animals in Translation’ by Temple Grandin, ‘Through a Vet’s Eyes’ by Dr Sean Wensley, and ‘A Dedication to Difficult Dogs’ by Dr Dennis Wormald.

The movie I recommend is movie ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’.

For podcasts I recommend ‘The Common Descent’.