I graduated in Clinical Neurophysiology in 2010 and worked at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and then The National Hospital for Neurology, specialising in electroencephalography (EEG) for diagnosis of sleep disorders and complex epilepsy. I conducted research into non-epileptic seizure disorders with Profs Markus Reuber and Matthew Walker, post-seizure states with Dr Beate Diehl, and activation of epileptiform discharges by visual stimulation with Dr Rosalind Kandler. 

I then moved to UCL to complete a PhD in ‘Somatosensory-evoked and state-dependent neural activity during the equivalent of the last trimester of human gestation’ in Dr Lorenzo Fabrizi’s Lab.

In 2019-20 I was supported by National Institute for Health Research and Medical Research Council UK Confidence in Concept funding, to develop a statistical model of sleep-wake regulation in infants. 

Since 2020 I have been funded by Brain Research UK to advance understanding of natural repair mechanisms following acquired neonatal brain injury. Recently, my work has broadened to examine acquired fetal, as well as neonatal, brain injury. My post-doctoral Research Associate Dr Cigdem Gelegen and I are currently affiliated to both UCL’s Institute for Women’s Health and Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Pharmacology, to apply insights from fetal medicine, neonatology, and fundamental neuroscience to this topic. I am collaborating with Prof Marcos Frank to apply neural plasticity concepts to my data, following our successful bid for a UCL Global Engagement grant. In 2022 I was awarded a small grant from EU Horizon ‘short-term scientific mission’ funding, to strengthen a collaboration with Prof Mark Blumberg to quantify sensorimotor behaviour in my cohort.

I maintain an international profile in Clinical and Sleep Neurophysiology. Since 2015 I have been part of the Editorial Board for Elsevier journal Clinical Neurophysiology Practice. I am a member of the ‘What is Sleep?’ international working group based at the Santa Fe Institute in the US. I am also a member of the working group associated with EU Horizon-funded ‘Maximising impact of multidisciplinary research in early diagnosis of neonatal brain injury (AI-4-NICU)’.

I have published scientific articles and commentary in leading journals, such as Cerebral Cortex, eLife, Sleep, and The Lancet, and featured in international media including BBC Radio 5 Live’s Naked Scientist podcast and The Times. I have contributed to numerous public engagement activities including a neuroscience-arts commission for which I secured UCL Grand Challenges funding and a UCL Lunch Hour Lecture.

I have presented my work at meetings across Europe and internationally, most recently I chaired and presented at the symposium ‘Tracking plasticity: sensorimotor neurophysiology in health and disease’ within the 2022 International Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology in Geneva.