Menu Close
Research Fellow, Coventry University

I completed my undergraduate and doctoral degrees at the University of Otago, New Zealand, spending most of my time with experimental psychologists. Sometimes, the philosophers let me into their part of the world, and from them I learned mostly philosophy of science. After working on the psychological determinants of facial preferences, humour appreciation, and religious belief at Otago, I took up a postdoctoral position at the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, Oxford. While running the Cognition and Culture Lab here, I am also the Deputy Director of the Belief, Brain, and Behaviour group at Coventry University, where I have just started as a Research Fellow. My work has now expanded into a variety of topics, including the psychology of religion more broadly, the effects of death anxiety, factors underlying human mate choice, and the connexion between social cohesion and self-defining memories.

Experience

  • 2015–present
    Research Co-ordinator of Cognition and Culture Lab, University of Oxford
  • 2015–present
    Research Fellow and Deputy Director of Belief, Brain, and Behaviour, Coventry University
  • 2012–2015
    Postdoctoral researcher in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Oxford
  • 2011–2012
    Postdoctoral researcher in Psychology, University of Otago

Education

  • 2012 
    University of Otago, New Zealand, PhD. (Psychology, Philosophy)