When I came here in 1977, I was studying cybernetics and control engineering before becoming a PhD student. I started my lecturing career in 1983, and I've been learning ever since.
I first taught computing to cyberneticists, but every few years I have undertaken new roles and now I teach cybernetics to computer scientists! That's why I've been here so long.
It was quite serendipitous how I entered higher education. I feel it has given me so many opportunities to develop as a person, but also to do research, work with other people, and go out and make a difference.
I grew up in Whitley, which is close to the University. I left school with not very good qualifications but ended up going to night school when I was a single mum. I loved studying and used to go as a hobby.
I work in the Department of Meteorology, researching major changes in climate in the past. Through this research we can understand the impact past climates had on prehistoric people, as well as the impact these people had on the climate.
My partner, Richard, is also an academic, which can make family life tricky because we both travel a fair bit and work rather long and odd hours. It helps, though, that the work is interesting and enjoyable, and that the University supports flexible working.
I have worked at the University of Reading in the Global Academy since 2019. I first came to Reading to teach temporarily on the summer Pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme. I was living on a houseboat in Oxford at the time, after returning from some time teaching in South East Asia. I fell in love with the beautiful Whiteknights campus and met some very friendly and kind colleagues during that time. I was therefore very pleased to be offered a succession of further work in Global Academy after that summer, which resulted in my husband and I moving to Reading permanently. Shortly after this I secured a permanent lecturer position here.
We are in the process of finalising our postgraduate taught courses for 2027/28 entry. In the meantime, you can view our 2026/27 courses.
