Faces of Reading

The two disorders demonstrate intriguing differences in music, language, emotion, pitch, memory and cognitive processing that may provide us with a unique opportunity for examining the underlying mechanisms of normal music and language functioning.

I'll be delivering a Year 3 optional module on "Music, language and the brain", engaging students with cutting-edge research and encouraging them to design new experiments.

I have a lot of support at Reading. My Head of School and colleagues are all very supportive and helpful. I can ask them for help and advice whenever needed.

I'm originally from China and did my PhD at the University of Chicago, where I studied the differences and similarities in speech prosody between Mandarin and English.

I then worked at Goldsmiths, University of London, Stanford University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and University College London as a postdoctoral researcher and at the University of Essex as a lecturer, before coming to Reading.

I really enjoy living in different countries, being exposed to different things and getting to know different people from different backgrounds. This has helped me develop both as a person and as a scientist.

While at Reading I have developed in so many different ways. At a professional level, when I arrived I was in charge of the secondary history teacher training course. I was soon asked to take responsibility for the MA in Teaching and Learning, and shortly after that I became programme director for the MA in Education programme.

More recently I have been School Director of Teaching and Learning (SDTL) – this was a very varied role, but the main focus was on ensuring all of our students have a really positive academic experience with us. I was involved in leading initiatives within the Institute of Education to enhance the quality of our teaching and learning provision, monitoring the quality of our programmes, and supporting the implementation of university wide projects. As SDTL I sat on the senior management group for the Institute of Education and line managed a number of staff. My role therefore involved working with lots of colleagues within Education and across the University.

Since stepping down as SDTL I have taken on more teaching and supervision of PhD students, and have been able to develop my research interests – in particular, I have been looking at the experience of LGBTQ+ students in schools. I also feel privileged to have been involved with many interesting national and international projects, most notably the Council of Europe’s ‘Pestalozzi’ teacher training programme.

On a personal level, I joined Reading at a point where I was coming out as transgender. My colleagues have been tremendously supportive and I work in an environment where I am accepted and respected for who I am. My colleagues are very used to me presenting whichever way I feel comfortable, which can shift from day to day.

Working at Reading is very much about people – the staff are truly committed to their students and the university is committed to developing and supporting both staff and students.

As well as my two regular clubs, I teach a group of pupils with learning disabilities once a month.

I started training in martial arts when I was 15 and really enjoyed it; I'm now a black belt, 3rd Dan. I found it beneficial to me physically, because I have cerebral palsy, and it helped with socialising as well.

I was lucky enough to be taught by a very good instructor, he is now the other instructor at the club and still trains me.

I'm in a wheelchair occasionally, but at work I'm sat down behind the desk most of the time with supportive staff around me. If I'm struggling a bit, there's always a way round it. Everyone is helpful and friendly, which always makes things easier.

I'm looking to put on a martial arts demonstration at the University, around Welcome Week, as well as a seminar to bring other martial arts to the area. I want to show what I'm doing and encourage everybody to give it a try.

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 LGBT Plus 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 LGBT Plus allies.