My first degree is in Architectural Studies from the University of Adelaide, which was followed by an honours degree in Psychology. After being awarded a scholarship from the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, I completed a PhD in Experimental Psychology at King's College, Cambridge. Following the PhD, I worked at the University of Melbourne for 17 years and, during that time, was promoted from lecturer through to professor. In 2010, I moved back to Adelaide to take up a Strategic Professorship in Psychology at Flinders University. I am Director of the Brain and Cognition Laboratory, which has a broad interest in cognitive processes, how they operate and how they might be represented in the brain. I have held various administrative roles including Dean and Deputy Dean of the School of Psychology, Director or the Flinders Institute of Psychological Science and Chair of the School Research Committee. I have been an Editor of Laterality and an Associate Editor for the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. I'm currently the Dean of Research for the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work and am on the ARC College of Experts on the SBE Panel.

My research interests fall within the realm of cognitive neuroscience, which examines cognitive processes and how they relate to brain function. One specific interest is centred on the study of asymmetries in behavior and perception, which are tied to the lateralisation of brain function. Topics include handedness, spatial attention in clinical and healthy populations, language and facial expression and perception. I am also interested in how spatial attention is controlled by the brain and the links between attention in the various sensory modalities and spatial / representational dimensions.

Potential PhD Projects:

1. investigating the impact of social context upon our perception and action in the world
2. examining rehabilitation treatments of the neurological disorder spatial neglect
3. investigating how language affects our perception in space
4. handedness and its relation to personality and cognitive ability
5. the role of eye movements in attentional asymmetries.