Favourite Thing:

Case studies with individual athletes to help them regulate their emotions and perform better is something that is rewarding for me, and can make a real difference to the participants themselves.

Me and my work

My work focusses athletes’ emotions, the impact of those emotions on performance and the strategies athletes can use to regulate emotions.

My Typical Day

My 5 month old baby normally wakes me up early!

What I'd do with the money

I’d like to produce a DVD for parents!

My Interview

• How would you describe yourself in 3 words?

  Calm, motivated, inquisitive

  Would you rather be a scientist or an athlete? And why?

  I’ve a huge admiration for the dedication of elite athletes. I’d have loved to have been an athlete, but either luck or absence of talent worked against me. My children miss me when I go to a conference for a couple of days, so right now I’m happy being a scientist!

  If you could have a body super power, what would it be and why?

  I’d like to have a body that could split itself in two so I could be in two places at once! Does that count?

  Which Olympic event would you most like to win? And why?

  I’d like to win the golf event in 2016, because it defy most of what we know about achieving excellence in sport!

  What did you want to be after you left school?

  I didn’t have a good idea of what I wanted to be, but I really enjoyed sport, psychology, and human biology so I ended up studying sport science

  Were you ever in trouble in at school?

  I had a week’s lunchtime detention for kicking a stone around the playground at junior school after a spongeball was confiscated! I’m still astonished!

  What's the best thing you've done as a scientist?

  I’m still really proud of my undergraduate dissertation. It didn’t get published, because of the small sample size, but it taught me a huge amount about “doing” science.

  Tell us a joke.

  How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb? One, but the lightbulb must want to change!