My primary research background is in Cognitive Neuroscience, with particular emphasis on the neural mechanisms underlying perception and cross-modal perception.
My PhD and post-doctoral research focussed on the neural mechanisms of smell and pain perception. I investigated how pain can be modulated by visual cues (e.g. comfort-giving, placebo and nocebo effects), and how these effects are reflected in brain activity. More recently I have become interested in how pain is represented in people recovering from surgery and/or sports injuries, and the psychological factors that predict pain perception in those populations. My research on smell investigated the effects of pleasant and unpleasant smells on perception of other stimuli, and how these effects are represented in the brain. I have maintained an interest in the cross-modal effects between smells and visual stimuli, and the impact that these have on fragranced product perception.
I am interested in nutrition and eating behaviour, and my more recent research explores the sensory aspects of smell and how those feed into specific eating behaviours, such as overconsumption. In addition to my primary interests, I have a broader interest in emotions and their neural correlates, and how humans perceive and portray their emotions.
In more recent years I have become particularly interested in pedagogical research, specifically student experience. One of my current projects is investigating how online learning and online learning spaces impact student experience and psychological wellbeing, and potential for flourishing at University.