I am a Lecturer in Affective and Social Neuroscience at the University of Kent. My research focuses on how bodily states shape social and emotional experience.
My interest in the relationship between bodily states and social experience developed during my doctoral work at University College London (UCL). I completed a PhD in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience under the supervision of Professor Katerina Fotopoulou, investigating the soothing and regulatory functions of affective touch, including how interpersonal touch can shape experiences of physical and social pain.
Before my PhD, I completed an MSc in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology through a joint programme at UCL and Yale University. During my time at Yale, under the supervision of Dr. Helena Rutherford, I worked on research examining the neurobiology of parenting and addiction.
Following my PhD, I joined the Lab of Action and Body at Royal Holloway, University of London. There, my research expanded from touch to interoception more broadly, examining how cardiac signals influence social cognition, including first impressions, emotional perspective-taking, and susceptibility to social influence.
I subsequently joined the Centre for the Politics of Feelings at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, where I began extending this work beyond interpersonal contexts to investigate the embodied foundations of political emotions and behaviour.
Across these different strands of work, I am interested in a common question: how does the state of the body shape the way we experience, interpret, and respond to our social world? My current research develops this question across interpersonal, mental health, and wider social contexts.