Courtney joined the department as a PhD student and teaching associate. We asked her about her plans and her experience at Royal Holloway.

What made you choose Psychology at Royal Holloway? Having just graduated from Royal Holloway this summer, I am already familiar with just how amazing the department is! Not only is the department known for producing high-quality research, particularly in my area (children’s language and reading development), but the staff are so friendly and supportive.

Royal Holloway’s Psychology department is one of the few departments that offer the chance to undertake a part-time PhD whilst also working as a Teaching Associate in the department which will allow me to develop both my research and teaching skills. The decision to stay was an easy one to make as I couldn’t imagine a more diverse and welcoming community to start my academic career in!

Can you tell us a little about the research you will carry out at Royal Holloway? I am interested in how children learn to read and how this relates to language learning. My research focuses on the use of written forms to facilitate foreign language learning in 7–10-year-olds and how feasible it is to apply these methods to Modern Foreign Language lessons in primary schools.

Can you tell us about the teaching you will be doing and what you think is the best part about teaching? I will be teaching on the first year statistics and research methods module, mostly in workshops and running lab classes. 

My favourite part of teaching is seeing students have a eureka moment; they come into the lesson with no idea what’s going on but after some explaining, you see it click in their head and they walk out of the lesson with a new-found confidence

What do you do outside of work? In my spare time, you’ll find me baking, with my nose in a book or visiting my family down by the coast!