Faces of Reading

My research is unusual as I do mathematical modelling of biological systems. I work alongside biologists, trying to use their data in novel ways.

I came to Reading in 2011 and have just done the first year of another three-year postdoctorate, which is funded by the British Heart Foundation.

I took up this change of career in later life. I was in the IT industry for a long time and did a degree with The Open University. I just loved studying mathematics so much, I decided to give up my career to do a PhD.

I live in Derbyshire, which makes life slightly complicated, but I work at home sometimes to alleviate some of the travelling. Mathematics is one of those lovely things you can do anywhere; on a train or at home. When I was offered the job, I mentioned the travel, and the University was really open to trying it and seeing how we got on – they've been great about it.

I would like to go on and get a permanent position, but I'm happy with what I'm doing; it's such a fascinating job.

For example, there are days when I work at home so I can pick up my five-year-old son from school. My electric car cuts down on carbon emissions but unfortunately not on travel time; I still have at least an hour-long commute each way, so being able to work from home on certain days really helps to fit everything in.

There’s a lot of support for doing things differently at the University, and from my mentor and manager. In addition to flexible working, I also benefit from interdisciplinary research interactions through my work with the Centre for Past Climate Change, and I’m co-chair of the Equality and Diversity Committee in the School of Mathematical, Physical, and Computational Science.

Read more about flexible working in the School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences.

I teach a module on ancient education, which is my research speciality. Reading students are fun to teach and that’s something I really enjoy.

I also run the ancient schoolroom. Over a period of two weeks, we have up to 60 children a day coming in, and I’m responsible for providing all kinds of different activities, all related to ancient education.

I’ve written several books on how Greek speakers learned Latin and how Latin speakers learned Greek. I discovered some ancient Latin textbooks, edited them, and published Learning Latin The Ancient Way a year ago and now the whole world has got them.

I came to Reading in 2013. I had been the only linguist in a classics department for a really long time, but here there are three of us. That’s much better for my research.

I live in Oxford and work part time. It works well, as I don’t have to commute in five days a week.

I’m involved in the LGBTQIA+ group at Reading, but it’s not a place where, as a lesbian, you feel isolated. British universities are good places to be a lesbian; everybody is very welcoming. And it’s nice to have colleagues as LGBTQIA+ allies.

Collaboration was never something we planned, it was more of a way of doing things that seemed practical to us. But, when it came to finding institutional support for our work, particularly in academia, we found that it was quite difficult to square this way of working with existing frameworks. 

Few universities were willing to take us on as joint lecturers, so we were delighted to find the University of Reading more open-minded. Here, our collaborative approach is not only supported, but reflected in the teaching in the Department.

The Art Department offers many opportunities for students to work collaboratively and really fosters an engagement with practices that challenge the idea of individual authorship.

As well as working students in the studio, we have had several opportunities to run projects offsite as mini-residencies with students in collaboration with various venues both nationally and abroad, from the Merzbarn in Cumbria to Nova Perla on the outskirts of Prague. In these less formal environments, we have found group work to be particularly useful as a way of instilling the mutual support that we hope will serve our students as well when they graduate as our collaboration has done for us.